Heist
by Kovukono
Summary: To try it would be crazy. To do it would be impossible. There's a dozen reasons it won't work, and seven animals who just don't care.
1. The Crew

Legalities: The characters Zira, Vitani, Kiara and Kovu are copyrighted to Disney. The characters Monah, Nani, Kizazi, and Tanabi are Akril's, and used with her permission. The characters Mataka, Nasiha, Amana, Kumbukizi, Makini, Ushairi, Sudi, Kassan, Una, Loma, Liaka, Beda, Akida, Shaka, Katili, Aisha, Ashani, Ibu, Onali, Laym, Kisasa and Kivuli are my characters, and are not to be used without my explicit permission.

**A/N: Tanabi is the son of Simba and Nala who was taken by Monah almost immediately after The Lion King ended. Tanabi was returned to the Pridelands after The Lion King II by a guilty Monah after seeing Zira, her best friend, and Nuka's ghosts. Tanabi's arrival created doubts in Kovu's mind, and let Scar's ghost enter and influence him. Kovu's actions forced Tanabi to kill him, an action which Tanabi permanently regretted, even though Kovu forgave Tanabi as he was dying. A few minutes after Kovu died, Simba and Nala died of old age, leaving Tanabi as king. He made Vitani his mate and had two cubs: Kizazi and Nani. Also, when Zira saw Scar on his deathbed, she told every hyena to leave forever, or else she would wipe out each and every one of them.**

Heist

The Crew

"Look, it's just some meat. There's no need to fight over it."

"That's what you think, lion. You haven't been starving for scraps your whole life."

Mataka stood his ground against the advancing trio of hyenas. "I'm just as hungry as you are. Just get your own kill."

"Not a chance," said the leader. He and his two allies continued advancing.

"I'm warning you."

"There's three of us, one of you. I think we've got at least a decent chance."

"Last chance."

The leader ignored Mataka, charging him, flanked by his two friends. Mataka swiped at the first one, knocking him to the ground. He didn't intend to kill the hyenas, just give them a beating their bodies would remember for a week and their minds wouldn't forget for a lifetime. He backpawed the next, and received a vicious bite from the third in his hind leg. He gritted his teeth and fell on the hyena, expecting his leg to be knocked out of the hyena's mouth with the rest of the hyena's wind. Amazingly, the hyena didn't let go. The other two hyenas leapt on him, each of them taking a painful bite in Mataka's body. The leader of the three went for Mataka's throat, Mataka only managing to wriggle out of it by placing his free leg in the hyena's jaws. He felt no pain in his leg, but roared with pain as the other two hyenas intensified their clamps. His mind swirled with disbelief. He, Mataka, veteran of countless fights, was to die at the will of three hyenas. He must be slowing down.

Mataka thrashed wildly, the hyenas occasionally relinquishing their grips for better ones, Mataka's roars increasing in intensity. He managed to land a few blows on the hyenas. As soon as he knocked a hyena back it lunged forward again, taking another bite. Then a hyena was suddenly knocked off him, hitting the ground a few feet away. Mataka caught sight of a clawed paw knocking another hyena off, and roared in pain as a little bit of himself went with the hyena. He reached out and clubbed the last hyena off him.

He turned over and got to his feet, advancing towards a hyena with renewed vengeance, noting his lioness ally by his side. The hyenas attacked again, the odds hopelessly against them now. Mataka and the lioness repelled them, coordinating their attacks perfectly, almost as if the entire fight had been rehearsed. The hyenas finally began to back away, Mataka staring at the leader with the lioness facing down the other two, both him and her breathing heavily.

"We'll get our own meat," said the leader of the hyenas, the other two apparently mute. "But when we find you again, you're ours." He ran off, followed by his friends.

Mataka finally allowed himself to hang his head. He turned to look at the lioness. She was looking at him with concern. "What was that about?" she asked.

"Nothing," said Mataka. He looked back at the carcass on the ground, then gestured toward it. "There. It's yours." He began to walk away.

"Wait!" the lioness called after him. "I need your help!"

"You can help yourself just fine," Mataka called back.

"You owe me!"

"I do not!" Mataka kept walking, aching from all the bites. He knew he didn't owe the lioness anything. He would have gotten out just fine. Granted, he might have been a little worse off, but it wouldn't have been anything that wouldn't heal. Besides, he'd left her the carcass. That more than made up for the help she had given him. He stopped at a pond to drink. He sighed as a reflection appeared next to his in the water.

"You owe me," insisted the reflection.

Mataka turned toward the lioness irritably. "What do you want from me? Hmm? Can't I just pass through a place without getting stopped?" The lioness stared at him defiantly. "Look, I've never even been here."

"You think I didn't think that?" asked the lioness. "That's why I'm asking _you_."

"Females are so infuriating."

"No doubt."

Mataka didn't need this. He didn't need any of it. No hyenas, no lionesses, no "favors." But he had them anyway. It was going to be a long day. Irritably he asked, "And why should I help?"

"There's no need to be so rude about it."

"Listen, I am having a _very_ bad time. You would too if you had just been run out of a kingdom by some poseur who got lucky. And then I just try to get some food and get attacked, and then _you_ come happily to my rescue. I am not happy."

"Then it's a good thing I don't need you happy."

Mataka began seriously considering throwing himself into the pond. "And just what do you 'need me' for?"

"I want you to help my friends."

"Could you be a little less specific?"

The lioness glared at him. "They've been exiled."

"Oh, so now I'm helping criminals."

"And a rogue like you hasn't ever done a wrong thing?"

"A rogue like me has done things that would give you nightmares if you'd care to listen."

"Look, it was a mistake. They didn't do anything."

"That's a first."

"They didn't," the lioness insisted.

"They didn't _what?_"

"They were exiled for killing a lioness and her cubs. They didn't. They said so, but the king wouldn't listen."

"What a shock."

"Do you have a smart-ass remark for everything?"

"Just about. Especially when I get like this. Surprised?"

"Look, you just need to help them. Clear their names somehow."

"I don't _need_ to do anything. I've half a mind to walk out of this place right now."

"Don't you have any decency? My friends are banned for something they didn't do! You can change that!"

"What's in it for me?"

"Ohhh," the lioness groaned. She gave a huff. "Can't you do something decent? Without repayment?"

"Sorry. That offer's only good on Tuesday." Mataka got up and began to leave.

The lioness watched him go in desperation. Suddenly she yelled out, "Please!" Mataka stopped in mid-step, then slowly turned around. "Please," begged the lioness.

"Please, huh?" Mataka's face almost changed into a smile. "Now that's a zebra of a different stripe."

"You'll do it?" asked the lioness desperately.

"Maybe." Mataka turned and started walking away again. "I'll see what I can do."

"Is that all?" the lioness yelled after him.

"Take it or leave it," Mataka called back.

The lioness watched him walk away. "I'll take it," she said quietly. She turned and began to walk back the way she came.

oOo

_Another time, another place_. _The same old routine_. _Just roaming, looking for someplace to peddle his talents_. _Mataka rotated his neck, hearing the vertebrae crack_. _He was headed for Daima_. _Nasiha had said to meet him there_. _They'd only been apart for a few weeks, but Mataka missed him sorely_. _Nasiha was probably the best friend he had_.

_Then something threw his mind completely off everything_. _It was a lioness_. _She was beautiful_. _Mataka had been with some very, very pretty girls, but they had all lacked something_. _This lioness seemed to have it_. _She wasn't exceptionally pretty; she was almost mediocre_. _But there was something in her that made Mataka stare as she went down to the waterhole_. _Maybe it was in the way she carried herself, maybe it was in the features of her face, maybe it was her eyes_. _Maybe, but Mataka didn't know_. _All he knew was that he was willing to follow this lioness wherever she led him_.

_But overall, he had an overwhelming desire not to tarnish her_. _He didn't want to change her_. _He stayed away_. _But he watched_. _He stayed in one place for the longest time he could remember_. _He began to think he was crazy_. _He'd never felt like this in his life, and now he was acting like this over a lioness he'd never even talked to_. _He stayed for four days, watching her_. _He could finally bear the waiting no longer_. _When she went to the waterhole the next morning, he met her_.

_When she saw him, she didn't run, she didn't yell, she didn't even speak_. _She simply stared at him, then went forward to get her water_. _Mataka finally spoke_. _"Er _. . . _ have you had any breakfast?"_

_"No," she replied quietly_. _She stared at him with eyes that seemed to tell him she knew all too well that she knew what he'd been doing_._ But they weren't filled with revulsion_. _It seemed that she felt exactly as he did_.

_"Well, uh _ . . . _would you like me to get you some?" Mataka asked hesitantly_.

_The lioness smiled_. _"That would be nice_._"_

oOo

Mataka walked across the savannah. There were almost no distinguishing features, save for a huge rock jutting out of the ground. He'd seen a lot of weird landmarks. This was just another. His eyes may have marveled slightly at the rock, but his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about how to fix the problem he'd been faced with. His mind made leaps and bounds of all the possible ways to wrench out an invitation back into the lands from the king. If the king was the usual type—and Mataka felt he could assume that—just forcing him into it would be suicidal. He'd have to do it carefully, and think it out with even more caution. It didn't help that he had no idea where the king was, or what the lioness's friends had been exiled for, or even who they were. He'd just have to try to find someone who knew.

One need surfaced above all else: food. He was a fool to have walked away from that meal, but it was too late to go back now. Those hyenas would have gone back to it and stripped it clean. All of which meant more hunting. This was _not_ a good day. So he thought, wandering in search of a herd. He found wildebeest grazing near a waterhole and crouched low. Then, with almost no warning, the herd stampeded towards him.

_What the—?_

He stood up and roared as loud as he could, the herd turning away from him, but still continuing on their stampede. He ran alongside it and tackled a smaller wildebeest to the ground, his jaws around its neck. He tightened his grip, the wildebeest slowing its thrashing as its eyes slowly glazed over. After it had stopped for some time, Mataka let go.

The herd had left, but Mataka still looked around. Something had startled the herd, and it hadn't been him. Then he saw it, a cat hunched over an antelope, eating noisily. The cat tossed its head up to swallow, showing it was a cheetah.

Mataka began to cautiously walk towards it. When he was about twenty feet away the cheetah whirled around, snarling, made all the scarier by the blood dripping from his jaws. "Who's there?" the cheetah demanded.

Mataka relaxed. He stood up fully from his crouch with a smile. "You're one jumpy guy, aren't you?"

The cheetah's fury changed to surprise. "Mataka?"

"And what are you doing here, Nasiha?"

"Just . . . stuff. What are you doing here? Last I heard you were over in Kitano." Mataka's face soured. "Oh." Nasiha smiled, licking his jaws to remove some of the blood. "Didn't I tell you that was a bad idea?" Mataka didn't answer. "Well?"

"Fine, rub it in."

Nasiha's smile grew even wider. He let out a small chuckle. His eye fell on his carcass. "Need meat?"

"Mine's over there. I'll be back." Mataka went over to his carcass and dragged it over. He dropped it and began to eat.

"So, what happened?" asked Nasiha.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Fine. Maybe later. Anyway, what brings you here? Besides the obvious fleeing for your life."

"Actually, excepting that, nothing. Gods, I'm bored." Mataka took a huge bite out of his carcass, mulling over his thoughts as he chewed. "You been here long?"

Nasiha smiled. "A bit. Why? You planning something?"

"I haven't been here a day and I've got a job."

"Why? It couldn't be your reputation," joked Nasiha. "Or your looks."

"Ha, ha. Look, it's a long story, but I get some help in a fight, and the lioness doing the helping asks me to—"

"You got shown up by a _girl?_" Mataka glared at him. "Go on. I like where this is going."

"You and I have both been shown up be females. If Aisha heard you say that—"

"Yeah, I know, she'd gut me like a fish. Now about this other one."

"She asked me to get some of her friends out of exile."

"And you said yes."

"And I said yes."

Nasiha thought about it. "She lives here, right? In this kingdom?"

"So far as I know."

Nasiha laughed. "You poor, stupid fool."

"What?"

"If I'm getting this right, you're supposed to convince the king here to reverse judgment on the only exile he's made in his entire life. That is the last punishment he reserves for _anything_. There is no way you can do it."

"And the light side?"

"Well, I'm guessing your lioness's friends are the leopards he exiled a while back. They're innocent, but the king wouldn't hear it. He'd found a lioness and her two cubs dead and half-eaten, and a group of leopards around with blood on their paws and faces. He lost it and exiled them right there. They insisted the blood was from hunting and they just found the lioness and the cubs dead, and were about to tell him. Course, there's no proof of that except their word."

"And that's a light side?" asked Mataka skeptically.

"Think of it more as a slightly-less-dark side. They're innocent. So what're you going to do? Play detective?"

Mataka smiled. "Takes too long. I'll have to come up with something. You want to help?"

Nasiha looked down at his carcass nervously, almost as if he was ashamed. "Not really."

Mataka looked up in surprise from the bite he was taking. "Huh? Why not?"

Nasiha fidgeted. "I know we've been through a lot together. But—well it's kind of hard to explain. I kind of thought I'd just, you know . . . settle down now."

Mataka laughed. "You think you're getting old, Nasiha."

"You're not that much younger than me."

"Yeah, but I got young ideas."

"You make me sick. Besides, I think I've seen just about everywhere. Why not settle down? This place is nice enough."

"Come on Nasiha. Just one last job. Yes, you've earned your rest, but when has that ever stopped you?"

Nasiha smiled. "When I started debating whether to actually get up in the morning."

"So you won't do it?"

"I didn't say that." Mataka's smile grew an inch. "Besides, if I didn't help you, I'd probably end up with your death on my conscience."

Mataka chuckled. "Alright then. Got any ideas?"

oOo

It was several hours later. The sun had gone down, and the two carcasses had been slowly eaten away. And still no firm plan had formed. "This is impossible," exploded Nasiha. "There is absolutely no way to get to him. He is always with someone, he rarely stirs off his rock without an escort, and even when it looks like he's alone he's got that damned shadow following him. Threatening—too obvious. Subtle, uncomfortable nudges—we'd be found out. Pleading the case—already been tried. And Aiheu knows how many plans we've forgotten!"

"Let me get this straight," said Mataka. "This guy is new here, hasn't been here for more than a few years, and the entire kingdom loves him?"

"Just about. I've never met him personally, but the things you hear about him . . . It's like he's some kind of god."

"Yeah, right," said Mataka, absentmindedly clawing some gristle off a bone. "And that black lioness you mentioned—"

"Monah. And it's not black. Just dark brown. Very dark."

"Whatever. She's _always_ watching him?"

"Like I said, she acts like he's her son or something. She's always looking after the king."

Mataka thought hard and suddenly smiled. "We could always . . ."

Nasiha took one look at Mataka's face. "No. Not going to happen."

"It could work," insisted Mataka.

"Alright, here we go, the three most successful cubnappings I know of. Three: Lion takes a cub in Asweh. Now, he almost got to the borders. Of course, the fool completely forgets the fact that the hunters were still out. So they see him and tear him to ribbons. Now the second, it happened here. Our beloved Monah takes Prince Tanabi in the dead of night, making his parents think someone killed him. Of course, she eventually felt so guilty she actually returned him as _King_ Tanabi. Or something damn close to that. And the most successful cubnapping I've ever heard of: Onali. Yeah, I thought you'd recognize it. Well, before he was king he was taken by a hyena. Of course, the hyena actually had to kill Onali's father to get Onali, and later gets swatted down by Onali himself. There you go. Top three, and not a single one turned out like planned."

"Onali was cubnapped?"

"Yeah, I know. Rocks your world, doesn't it?"

"More turns one little part of my universe upside down."

"Look. There is _no way_ to get to this guy. And cubnapping has to be the stupidest idea we've had all night."

"Stupider than the catapult?"

"Alright, maybe not that one," said Nasiha reluctantly. "But it's close."

"Look, we want some leverage for this guy, right? What better way that to hang a cub over his head?"

"You want to steal the king's cubs?"

"No of course not. What am I, stupid? Don't answer that," Mataka added hurriedly as Nasiha opened his mouth. "Besides, from what you said, they're too big to get too far with."

"Good. For a second, I thought you'd gone crazy. Alright, which cub do we take?"

"Any old cub."

"'Any old cub,'" said Nasiha skeptically.

"Any old cub. Course, it would be nicer if the cub had distinguishing features."

"There is a pitch-black cub."

"Not dark, dark brown?"

"No, black."

"Perfect." Mataka rose from the ground to a sitting position, arching his back inward and hearing the vertebrae pop.

"I—I'm sorry, I must have heard you wrong. What was that?"

"That's the cub we want."

"That's the last cub we want. It's not special, it's not anything at all—"

"Look, if this king is a nice as you say he is, then he'll bend over backward for the cub anyway."

"Somehow, I doubt he'll do it for any cub."

"It's a member of his pride. He'll do it. If what you've said is true."

"It's true. But still, there's the fact of actually getting the cub. The cub's mother is fanatic. She'll keep that cub alive at any cost."

"She's one lioness."

"She'll try to kill you if you do this."

"One lioness."

"One fanatically maternal lioness. She's almost as bad as Monah. She nearly beat the crap out of a cheetah for looking at her cub the wrong way, for crying out loud."

"Look, we can work this out."

"Oh, yes, I can just see it now. Walk into the den, beat down anyone in the way, take a cub, and come back the next morning demanding that the exile is lifted as a ransom. Yes, I think that'll work out pretty well, except for the part of us getting _killed in the middle of it!_" Mataka smiled as Nasiha shook his head. "Yes, this one is going right up there next to the catapult."

"We'll do this subtly."

"We have to get past the king. We have to get past Monah. And most importantly, we have to get past an insane lioness who would probably tear your guts out as soon as look at you."

"I'll lie to her. I'm good at that."

"You walk off with her cub, and then say, 'I don't know where she is. She was right there.'?"

"I'm working on it."

Nasiha sighed. "You're bound and determined to do this?"

"It's the best shot we've come up with."

Nasiha shook his head. "Fine. We'll call it a night. Just remember, when we both end up dead, I told you so."

oOo

Kivuli bounded into the den with Nani and Kizazi, the three of them laughing. They scampered around the den, bumping into and jumping around lionesses. Kivuli was short on a jump over a lioness and flipped over her onto her back. The lioness looked down at Kivuli with a smile. Kivuli grinned back. "Sorry, Amana."

"Why'd you have to be such a klutz, Kivuli?" asked Nani.

"Yeah, come on, Kivuli," chimed in Kizazi.

Amana laughed. "Yeah, that hurt, Kivuli. Why'd you have to go and do that?"

"Amana," Kivuli groaned.

"By the way, your mother's looking for you."

"She's always looking for me," said Kivuli, unperturbed.

"I mean she _really_ wanted you." Amana smiled mischievously. "Something about respecting your elders."

Kivuli whirled to face Nani and Kizazi, who were laughing. "You told her," she accused them.

Kizazi straightened up. "No, never. Despite what you're thinking, never."

"Liar!" Kivuli protested. She launched herself at Kizazi, colliding with him and rolling with him on the ground while Nani egged them on. Amana just smiled. Kizazi finally came out on top.

"Ha!" he exclaimed. "Got you!"

There was a sudden burst of motion, then Kizazi was spread-eagled on his stomach with Kivuli on his back. "Got _you_."

"Actually," said Amana, "Kisasa found out on her own."

"Huh?" all three of the cubs asked.

"Kivuli!" thundered one end of the den. A lioness walked in, completely ordinary, save for a thin hunting scar that ran the length of the left side of her face. She walked up to Kivuli, her resemblance to Kivuli astonishing, an exact replica save for the scar, the difference in eye color, and the fact that Kivuli's pelt was completely black. "What have I told you about coming home before sunset?"

Kivuli seemed to sigh, relieved that her mother didn't know what happened with Kiara. "Do it," she said grudgingly. "But the sun's barely even gone down."

"Cut her some slack, Kisasa," said Amana. "She's been with me."

"But you've been here," said Kisasa suspiciously.

"I went down to the water hole," Amana lied smoothly. "I brought her back with me. It's my fault she's late."

"Is this true?" Kisasa asked her daughter.

"Yes, Mom," Kivuli said innocently.

"Alright," said Kisasa, obviously unconvinced. "But it's time to sleep."

"Aw, Mom—"

"No buts. You better be asleep when I come back." She left the den to see Tanabi.

"Hey, we better all sleep together," said Kivuli to Nani and Kizazi. "Someone might try to cubnap us when we're asleep."

Amana laughed. "Kivuli, if anyone cubnapped you, they'd have you back by morning."

oOo

Kisasa walked up the back of Pride Rock to where Tanabi lied, watching the stars that had just filled the sky with his mate, Vitani. It wasn't the best time to disturb him, but Kisasa couldn't think of a better one. She had to know about Kivuli. The cub, despite Kisasa's constant warnings and punishments, still roamed the Pridelands without a care.

Kisasa was very, very worried about her. She sometimes forgot that the Pridelands weren't the wilderness where Tanabi was raised, where anything could happen, especially to poor little cubs, and Kisasa couldn't see why Tanabi didn't think that, either. He had grown up in the most dangerous part of the world, outside of any kingdom. He may have been raised by a pride, but there were no laws out there.

Kisasa had only spent a small portion of her life out there as a cub, but she had more than learned that it wasn't a place to play. She had been carried and raised by her mother, constantly traveling, searching for something. A home. A pride, a safe place where Kisasa's mother could raise her daughter without worrying as much. Life by herself with a cub was exhausting, and more dangerous than anyone should have had to bear.

Kisasa had been just like her daughter, running around despite her mother's protests, and had learned early why her mother did protest. She had been exploring happily, looking for the pretty flowers that her mother said were around here and ignoring the warning not to go that far off on her own. She hadn't found the flowers; she had found a very hungry cheetah who hadn't eaten lunch. The cheetah had advanced on her, its mouth open in anticipation of the meal, its large, sharp teeth rooting her to the spot with horror as the cheetah came closer.

And then Kisasa's mother had saved her, barely. She had leapt on the cheetah, knocking it to the ground. She took one quick look back at her daughter, then grabbed a foreleg of the cheetah and dragged it into the grass. She may have spared her daughter the vision of death, but horrific pictures leapt into Kisasa's mind as her mother had beaten the cheetah to death, the horrible noises coming from the grass.

Kisasa never left her mother's side in the wilderness again.

And then they had finally found a home, a place to live: the Pridelands. Scar took them in graciously, despite the protests of having another mouth to feed. The land was plentiful, however, and Kisasa's mother showed she was more than willing to work.

But Kisasa had nothing to do while her mother talked with the other lionesses; it was boring to talk. So she turned to the cubs. She proudly walked up to them and said that her name was Kisasa, and that was her mommy. The cubs had told them their names and pointed out their mommies, and then pointed at Scar and said that he was their daddy. They asked the question that embarrassed Kisasa so much later: "Where's your daddy?"

Kisasa learned later what they had meant in full. She slowly began to piece together in her head what most likely had happened to her mother; a horrible, horrible story. That her mother had been a fool, and had come upon a rogue lion that had offered her one night of pleasure, of pure bliss, and her mother, as a fool, had taken it. The rogue had left, the only souvenir of that wonderful night being Kisasa.

Kisasa had finally approached her mother with what she had thought through and demanded the truth. And her mother, weeping, had told her the same story, nearly word for word as Kisasa had pictured it. Kisasa had been ashamed of her mother. She loved her nonetheless, but swore, absolutely swore, that she would never be caught in such a position.

And then Tanabi had happened. Monah had taken Tanabi with a group of lionesses, Kisasa among them. Kisasa had wanted to go; there was no life for them here. The new king had talked of rebuilding, but very little had happened. A little bit of grass and a tree blooming here or there meant nothing to Kisasa. She didn't realize the effort taken to swing the balance back to the way it was before the drought and Scar's mismanagement.

So Kisasa had left with Monah, youthful and full of all the changing and unstable emotions a cub that had just become a lioness had. She had walked with Monah and the others for a whole month, making sure no one from the Pridelands would ever find them.

It was a new life for Kisasa. It was a completely different and much more dangerous place. The ones who had taken cubs with them watched them day and night, never letting them out of their sight after the first one had died through carelessness. Kisasa rejoiced that she didn't have that problem. She helped them out whenever she could.

But soon, she needed just as much help as them. She had been alone, watching the sunset, away from the Pride, when she heard a voice next to her.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" She had turned to see a lion next to her, smiling, his red mane beautiful in the setting sun. She gasped in surprise. The lion's smile grew a little. "Scared you, didn't I?"

She looked at him, uncertain on what to do. "Yes," she had finally said quietly. And it started. Her first romance. It lasted one night. One night, where he had done his best to please her, giving her the best parts of the carcass he had caught for the two of them, lying on his back with her, watching the stars, whispering sweet nothings to her. And then, finally, he had kissed her, and she had kissed him back, the kisses elevating into something much more serious.

In the morning he was gone. Kisasa sighed happily when she saw he wasn't there. He had gone to get her breakfast. The thought that he had left was unthinkable. He loved her. He had said so. And the wonderful way that he had made love to her last night was proof. But the day dragged on. She never saw him again.

But she had a reminder. A cub, a wonderful little boy. Kisasa wept when she noticed her stomach expanding. She had fallen into the same trap that had ensnared her mother so easily, and she had fallen into it with just as little effort.

But she swore to continue to do as her mother did. She would love the cub. She looked on the cub as she held it between her forelegs with true love, despite the gossiping behind her back by the other lionesses. She kissed him, coddled him, and told him with complete honesty that she loved him very, very much. He became such a smart little boy, so eager to please his mother. Kisasa was very proud of her son.

She wasn't proud of him as long as she would have liked to be. She was unable to save her son. She ran to him, watching the wild dogs tear open his stomach before she got to him. She beat them off and cradled the body in forelegs, clutching it close to her as she rocked back and forth, weeping.

It took her weeks to even smile again. She finally could think about it with some amount of reason. The lionesses who had talked about her so spitefully now talked about her with such sorrow. Their apologies for what they weren't responsible for salved her wounds, and finally healed her. She was content with the life she had. It wasn't like any of the other lionesses had cubs, save for a few. Tanabi didn't mate with anyone, even when he was old enough.

But then it started all over again. She was surprised again by a rogue, completely alone again. He seemed to have a wonderful heart, a heart that most definitely didn't match his black mane. But she refused to play the fool again. She had spent the night with him, but was ready to give him a set of claws across his face if he tried to touch her. But he didn't try. And he left. She regretted it. If anything, he had seemed hurt by her attitude she had taken toward him the previous night. But life went on. She remembered him, however. He had showed her that rogues weren't all scum.

And then he came back. He had come back to her, back for her. And he made love to her that night, with her being completely willing. And he left again. It continued, him leaving and coming back without any of the others knowing, both of them enjoying the times they spent together. He told her he would always come back to her, because he loved her as he had never loved anyone else.

And then the most wonderful thing she could imagine happened. She became pregnant. She had kissed him lovingly when she told him that she carried his cub. He had kissed her back, and rubbed her bulging stomach. He made love to her again that night and left, that very night. She never saw him again.

She realized once again what a horrible, horrible fool she was. She had been his plaything, a wonderful little lioness to come to whenever he felt like it. And she realized that rogues were horrible, horrible things that didn't deserve to roam the earth. She swore that she would give the ones who had used her something to remember her by if she ever met them again. But she would take care of this cub as she had her last; no, better than her last. She would not let it die. She bore his cub, a lovely little girl, and then, almost immediately, was told that it was time to leave. They would take Tanabi back home, where Monah felt he belonged. Kisasa picked up her cub and followed the pride.

The cub was barely old enough to speak. But she knew four words: Mommy, and the three Kisasa kept telling her cub: I love you. Kisasa loved her daughter, once again despite the gossip, which was much, much worse this time. But then, once again, the harsh words changed to words of comfort as, once again, Kisasa's cub had its life taken from it. A leopardess attacked the mother and daughter, hoping to make off with the cub for food. Kisasa fought back, but was unable to beat off the leopardess. The leopardess snapped her daughter's neck and ran off with it.

Kisasa was heartbroken. She arrived at the Pridelands with the rest of the group, thoroughly miserable. So much had gone by while they were gone. The pride had been split apart and rejoined. There was a new prince and princess. And now that Tanabi had returned, another prince. And then, after the death of Kovu, only one prince, and a few minutes later, no prince, but a new king.

And through this time, Kisasa slowly grew better again. Finally, after the birth of the royal cubs, Kisasa asked Tanabi to give her cubs. She knew Tanabi would never run off, would never say that he loved her and then run when he was given responsibilities. He didn't even say "I love you, Kisasa." Tanabi had fulfilled her request as a request. And now, she had a new chance. Kivuli.

"Sire," she said as she approached Tanabi and Vitani.

Tanabi raised his head to look at Kisasa. "Oh, Kisasa. Go ahead and lie down. It's beautiful tonight." He motioned to the freshly darkened sky.

"I . . . Thank you, sire." She lied down next to him, Tanabi between her and Vitani.

"So, what is it?" he asked.

"I wanted to know where Kivuli went today. She wasn't home when she was supposed to be."

"Kisasa, don't you think you're a little overprotective?" asked Vitani.

"You of all animals should know what its like out there, and the king knows, too. Both of you grew up outside the Pridelands. You know how easy it is for a cub to get hurt."

"But that's just it," said Vitani. "It was outside the Pridelands. The Pridelands are safe, Kisasa. Cubs aren't just going to be killed if they wander off."

"When I grew up here, cubs _were_ killed off. If you went too far beyond the den, you ended up inside a hyena. It was that simple."

"It's different now," said Vitani.

"Kisasa, you really shouldn't worry that much," said Tanabi. "Kivuli's always with our cub on the walks; she'll be fine. No one would hurt Nani, no one will hurt Kivuli."

"I just wanted to know where she was."

"What did she say?"

"That she was with Amana."

"Did you ask Amana?"

"She said Kivuli was with her," admitted Kisasa.

"So why don't you believe her?" asked Tanabi. "She's home now, and the sun didn't go down that long ago. You have to give your cub some space to work with. Kivuli can't be expected to follow everything you say. Especially not with a personality like that."

"Did you see her come home, sire? That's all I want to know."

"No. I know my cubs obey, because I trust them. They want me to trust them. I don't have to check. You just need to trust Kivuli a little more. Let her show you that she can handle herself." Tanabi paused. "I—I know it's hard, Kisasa, but you need to forget your other cubs. Just understand that what happened was an accident. I—"

"Don't you dare talk to your elders that way," snarled Kisasa.

"I'm sorry," said Tanabi. "I—I just thought that maybe you were a little . . . hard on Kivuli because . . . well, because of the other cubs, and—"

"There were no other cubs," Kisasa said fiercely. She strode angrily back down to the den.

oOo

_The entire day had gone by_. _Neither of them had said too much, even though they had been together the entire day_. _And yet the day had been thoroughly enjoyable to both of them_. _It was night now, and Mataka finally decided to propose his idea to her_. _"Are you happy here?"_

_The lioness smiled_. _"Yes_._ Mostly_._ There isn't too much to be unhappy about_._"_

_"You could come with me," said Mataka, feeling that the words were slightly reckless_.

_"What?"_

_"I could show you the world_. _It's a big place out there, you know_._ I could give it all to you_._" He thought silently, _I would.

_The lioness laughed_. _"You're a rogue_. _The only thing you could give me is a reputation_._"_

_Mataka was crushed_. _"Well _. . . _if that's how you feel_ . . ._" He shook his head suddenly, as if clearing it_. _"Anyway, it's nighttime_. _It's too dark to go back to your pride; you don't know what's out there_. _You might as well stay here for the night_._" He lied down on his back_.

_The lioness looked shocked at the idea_. _"You mean stay here? With you?"_

_"Yes, I mean stay here, with me_. _What's the problem?"_

_"And you're just going to stay there, all night?"_

_Mataka laughed_. _Her thoughts hadn't even entered his mind_. _"Yes, I'll just stay here, all night_._ Or you can go ahead and try your luck out there_._ Your choice_._" Even if she did leave, he'd shadow her, just to insure her safety_. _He curled up, pretending to shut her out of his mind_. _He heard her lie down behind him, and slowly he fell asleep_.

_The next morning Mataka was gone_. _The lioness woke up, looking for him_. _He was nowhere to be found_. _She felt she had lost something she could not replace_.

oOo

Nasiha woke up silently. It was always hardest to get up between the wonderful oblivion of dreamland and the first drink of the cold water hole. Usually after that he was fine. But even after Mataka had gone through even breakfast, he was only tolerable. He actually needed a reason to be happy. Fortunately for everyone else, he usually found one, although he never shared it with Nasiha. These thoughts flowed through Nasiha's mind. He turned to look at Mataka.

Mataka wasn't there.

Nasiha began to speak in tongues.

oOo

Mataka walked to the large rock shooting straight up out of the ground. Descriptions flowed through his mind. Some would have called it beautiful. Others might have said awe-inspiring. Still others would say majestic. He, himself, personally, thought of it as an ugly slab of rock smack dab in the middle of a barren savannah. His mother had never loved him for his artistic bent.

It was night. More accurately, it was night quickly going on morning. Mataka walked to an acacia and sat down, watching the tip of a rock balanced precariously between another rock and the bigger rock. He wondered idly why it didn't fall over. Then he saw what he had come for: the earliest riser. The lioness he had met yesterday had walked out of the hole in the rock that served as the den. Mataka sat there for a second, watching her, then left for Nasiha.

The lioness snapped her head to an acacia not far from the rock. She could have sworn she saw movement there. But there was nothing. She shrugged and went back down into the den.

Mataka stopped at a pond before going back to Nasiha. He was toying with the idea of bringing back breakfast. A voice cut through his thoughts. "I hear you've gotten into a bit of trouble lately."

Mataka looked up to see a magnificent specimen of a leopard standing before him. His coat was one of the rare solid-color ones, dark and sleek. His muscles were large without being overly so, and were finely toned. He was large, but not over-intimidatingly so. The leopard's overall posture seemed to say that he could do anything, and you wanted to prove your trust to him fully. "Kass?" said Mataka in surprise.

"Mataka," said Kassan. He didn't smile, he didn't frown, he just seemed to acknowledge Mataka's existence. He put his head down to the water for a quick drink before looking up again. "So, why are you here?"

"Oh, no reason, really," said Mataka, trying to match Kassan's air of nonchalance and failing horribly. "Just have a job going on here. Cubnapping, actually."

"Hmm," said Kassan, apparently unimpressed. He got up. "Good luck with that." He disappeared into the tall grass.

Mataka stared at where Kassan had disappeared for several minutes, as if expecting Kassan to return. Suddenly he shook his head, snapping out of his reverie. He couldn't stomach the thought of breakfast anymore. He began to walk back to Nasiha, his throat seeming just as parched as before he drank.

Nasiha was furious. "Where the hell have you been?" he demanded.

Mataka walked past him to the fresh carcass that Nasiha had caught. "I went to check on the king."

Nasiha watched as Mataka began to tear strips off the carcass. "You went to Pride Rock?" he groaned. Mataka appeared to think about it for a moment, then nodded. "Oh, _please_ tell me you didn't do anything stupid."

"Don't worry," said Mataka through a mouthful of meat. "No one saw me."

"And you're sure of that, are you?" Mataka threw Nasiha a look. "Fine, fine," said Nasiha, backing down.

"Anyway," said Mataka, then swallowed. "Anyway," he continued, "the king isn't the first one out of the den. Fortunately, our little lioness friend is."

"Great. Good news that helps us in absolutely no way whatsoever." He paused, watching Mataka eat. "Alright," he finally asked, "what's the plan?"

"What makes you think I have a plan?"

"You're never this damn sure of yourself unless you have a plan."

Mataka straightened up with a smile. "Alright, fine. Here's what I have. Cub goes out to play with her friends every day, right? And the bigger ones with her are supposed to be watching her?"

"They also usually have an adult with the cubs."

"Exactly. So, all we do is get one, maybe two more players, run a nice, big song-and-dance, and have one of us take off with the cub. We then just say they're not getting the cub back until they lift the exile."

Nasiha thought about it. "It could work. . . . You mentioned something about other players?"

"Yeah."

"Who you got in mind?"

"Actually, I was hoping you could help me with that. You've been here a while."

Nasiha smiled. "Alright. I think I know who you're looking for."

Mataka stood up, swallowing down a last bit of meat. "Great. When can we go see him?"

"Let's go." Nasiha got up and started walking away. Mataka smiled and followed him, almost surprised at how everything was going his way.

oOo

Nasiha seemed to be leading Mataka to a kind of clearing. Then he suddenly took a sharp turn, veering off in a completely different direction. He threw a look back at Mataka. "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing."

"Liar."

Mataka paused. "I ran into Kass today."

"Ah." There was even more silence as Nasiha led him through grass that was so high it was up to their heads. Nasiha spoke up again. "Mataka, why don't you just do what I've done?"

"Huh?"

"Just settle down, find a mate, have some cubs. You're not going to live forever, you know. Not in this business."

"Not in this lifetime."

Nasiha sighed. "Fine. Watch your step."

"What?"

"I said watch your—" It was too late. Mataka put his paw down to the grass, feeling it give way as if it weren't there. He rolled down a hill, sliding to a stop in the middle of several surprised and somewhat angry cheetahs. A couple snarled at him and began to advance on him. Mataka didn't have a hope. Hyenas were one thing, cheetahs were completely different. Then Nasiha was by his side. "Easy," he said. "He's with me."

Mataka got to his feet, keeping an eye on the two cheetahs. They had backed down and were patiently sitting down, waiting for Mataka to leave. Nasiha started walking away, Mataka following him hurriedly. "Who were they?" he asked. "Sisters?"

"My nieces."

Mataka stared at him. "Nieces?"

"I told you, I plan on staying here. Just one last job, and I'm done."

Mataka shook his head at the thought. Instead of remarking he contented himself with looking around. It was almost as if they were walking through a trench with very high walls. There were walls on both sides of them, grass growing on their sharply sloping sides. There seemed to be a circular clearing ahead of them and behind them, cheetahs going about their business in both of them.

Nasiha walked through to the next one, a female immediately looking up and running over to him. He nuzzled her lovingly and whispered something to her. She pulled her head back.

"Of course I was worried. Gone all night, didn't even bother to send us a message with anyone. You should be ashamed." Her face told quite a different story.

Nasiha smiled and glanced at Mataka. "I'm sorry, I'm forgetting my manners. Mataka this is Ushairi. Ushairi, this is the lion I've told you so much about."

Mataka looked at the cheetah. He generally made it a rule not to mate outside of his species, but he might have been willing to make an exception for Ushairi. She truly lived up to her name. He could especially see the adoring looks she and Nasiha kept giving each other. It was almost enough for Mataka to think there was something to the whole mate lifestyle. Almost.

"So," said Ushairi, "you're the Mataka I've heard about."

"I'm sure Nasiha's exaggerated half of it," said Mataka.

"You'd better hope so. From what I hear—"

"We were just coming to see Sudi," interrupted Nasiha. "He around?"

"He should be back in a minute," said Ushairi. As if on cue, a cheetah slid down the side of the pit. "There he is now. I thought you said no more jobs," she pouted.

"I'll tell you about it in a minute," said Nasiha pacifyingly. He started walking toward Sudi. Mataka followed him, looking back to see Ushairi watching them. He turned his head back to Nasiha as Nasiha began to speak. "Met him when I came here. Done a few jobs himself."

Sudi looked up as he heard Nasiha talking. He appeared to have no scars, something that was very, very rare for rogues. He seemed genuinely surprised to see Nasiha approaching him. "Nasiha," he acknowledged.

"I was just telling him about your experience," Nasiha said, nodding at Mataka. He turned to Mataka. "We call him Lucky."

"Why?"

"Because he's anything but."

"Hey, that's not true," protested Sudi. "I've just gotten the bad end of a few jobs."

"Haven't we all?" remarked Nasiha dryly. "I'll leave you two to talk things over." He walked back to Ushairi.

"And you are?" asked Sudi, sounding as if he didn't care.

"Mataka."

Sudi straightened up, surprised. "I've heard of you," he said, a slight note of awe entering his voice.

"I see Nasiha's been talking."

"No, not just from him. You've got quite a reputation."

"Well, I try," said Mataka modestly.

Sudi stared at him for a few moments, then asked, "What do you want with me?"

"Just a little help. I'm working a job here, thought you might be interested."

"You've heard of me?"

"No. But I trust Nasiha."

"I wouldn't put too much behind that trust."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mataka asked with a snarl.

Sudi stood up, taking a step back. "Whoa, easy. Nothing against Nasiha, believe me. I just don't think I'm, the right guy you're looking for."

"Why not?"

Sudi hesitated. "Not a single job I've been on has turned out right."

"I find that pretty hard to believe."

"I'm not saying they weren't pulled off. I'm just saying I've always ended up with the short end of the stick. My parts never go off as planned."

Mataka thought it over. "Done any jobs I might know of?"

"How 'bout Daima? The one about two years ago."

"That was _you?_"

"Yeah."

"You almost got them all killed."

"I'm not proud of it. I did my best to make sure they got out alive."

"What about what happened to Loma?"

"I said I wasn't proud of it." Sudi sighed. "The last thing I want is for you to end up like Loma." He paused. "She was a good lioness."

Mataka sat, thinking. "Do you think you can do this?" he finally asked.

"I'd give it my best shot. 'Specially for you." Mataka looked up at that remark. "What, you think I wouldn't? You're _Mataka_. That's almost as good as getting another offer from Kassan."

Mataka's face soured. "Yeah . . ." He stood up. "Nasiha should be able to tell you where to meet us." He began to walk away.

"Thank you."

"You won't be thanking us when you find out the job," Mataka called over his shoulder. He continued walking to Nasiha and Ushairi.

". . . is different," Nasiha was saying. "This is Mataka. I can't just turn _him_ down. Anyone else, yes, but not him. We've been through too much. I promise, last one." He finally noticed Mataka. "Isn't that right, Mataka?"

"So you keep saying."

"Alright," said Ushairi reluctantly, nuzzling Nasiha. She turned to Mataka, her eyes lit up like twin balls of fire, claws extended as she raised a paw up to his face. "But you had better make sure he comes back, or else I'll hunt you down and hurt you _real bad_." She giggled, at complete odds with her previous statement. "Okay?"

Nasiha was smiling. "Uh, I'm leaving now," Mataka said slowly.

"Yeah, he's right, we need to get going," said Nasiha. He nuzzled Ushairi one last time and received a gentle lick on the cheek.

"Just come back home tonight," said Ushairi.

"Promise." Nasiha began climbing up the wall, almost sliding back down, it was so steep. Nevertheless, he was up at the top in ten seconds. Mataka tried to follow him, sliding down with every step he took, making hardly any progress. He reached the top at least two minutes later, completely exhausted.

"I'm never going down there again," he breathed.

"You know, you missed the footholds entirely."

Mataka looked up at Nasiha incredulously. "There were footholds?" Nasiha smiled and began to walk away.

"Come on. Lunch."

"It's mid-morning," protested Mataka.

"And you ate my breakfast."

oOo

Nasiha was lying down, slowly tearing apart an antelope. Mataka was opposite him, tearing apart his own. His was defined as "brunch" by him, and "a worthless meal" by Nasiha. "Just how much do you think you can put in your stomach in one day?" asked Nasiha.

"Enough." Mataka swallowed. "Alright, we've got Sudi. Anyone else?"

"I've got one, maybe two more on my mind."

"Think it'll be enough?"

"We're not raiding the den; we don't need an army."

"Fine."

There was a small break, Mataka's thoughts wandering to Ushairi. "How'd you meet?"

"Oh, this is just where he was born. Comes back a lot to visit his mother. I think she's the only one who doesn't know what he does."

"I wasn't talking about Sudi. I meant Ushairi."

"I know who you meant."

"Fine. Be that way." Mataka went back to eating. He wasn't really sore at Nasiha. He was entitled to his secrets, just as Mataka was entitled to his. Secrets only became a problem when they affected the job. Mataka swallowed his meat and tore off another chunk as he looked up at Nasiha. Slowly a smile crept across Nasiha's face. Nasiha began shaking his head. "What?" asked Mataka.

"You know, he's been there for at least five minutes now."

"Huh?" Mataka turned to find a face just inches away from his. "Ohdeargod!" He jumped up, breathing heavily. Nasiha laughed wildly. "Don't do that! Gods, do you want me to have a heart attack?" He turned to look at the leopard that was still calmly lying down. "And who the hell is he?"

"Makini. My godson."

"How does a cheetah get a leopard godson? In fact how _did_ you get a godson?"

"Long story."

Mataka stared at the dark-furred leopard. Makini had a rare black pelt like Kassan. Makini stared just as intently back, not blinking, not moving his head at all. Mataka finally tore his gaze away and asked Nasiha, "Does it speak?"

"Oh, it speaks. But right now he's just giving you the look."

Mataka looked back at Makini and saw he was still being scrutinized. "Okay already!" he finally shouted.

Makini smiled. "I don't know Nasiha. He broke pretty easy."

"He went for a lot longer than me," said Nasiha.

"What were you trying to do? Hypnotize me or some crap like that?"

"I've done it before," said Makini.

"Great," Mataka said to Nasiha. "We have a hypnotist. Now can he do something we actually _need?_"

"He was lying down beside you for who knows how long," pointed out Nasiha.

"Well . . ." said Mataka reluctantly.

"_And_ he can run. I mean fast. Almost as fast as me." Mataka looked over at Makini, who seemed untouched by the praise, just taking it in as fact. Mataka did notice he seemed to hold his head a little higher, though. "He's got talent," continued Nasiha. "Plenty of potential, all of it just waiting to be used."

"What, you mean he's new?"

"Yep. Mint condition, just waiting for the right guy to come along and use him." Nasiha gave Mataka a sly look. "Why not us?"

"You expect me to take this wet cub and use him for a job like this?"

"Not exactly wet. Remember, I've been here some time now."

"He's new. He's inexperienced, no matter how much you may have coached him. Let me guess. You've been teaching him how to fight."

"Mostly," admitted Nasiha.

"And that's not what we need. Don't get me wrong, kid," Mataka said to Makini, "but that's exactly what we don't want this time. It's gonna have to be all about timing. That and not a single drop of blood spilled. We can't have any deaths at all, not even an injury. I just don't think we can use you."

"Haven't you been listening to me?" asked Nasiha. "I know we can't use him as a fighter. But that's not what we need. You want that cub gone without anyone noticing? Here's your leopard. He can sneak like nothing I've ever seen. One second he's there, the next he's gone."

Mataka looked down at Makini, unconvinced. The leopard was eating an antelope leg that was suspiciously familiar to Mataka. He looked back down to see one of the forelegs off of his carcass. He looked back up at Makini, who was chewing a bit of meat. Makini finally noticed Mataka's stare. "Thought I'd help myself."

"You're eating my leg."

"You want it back?"

Mataka stared at him, seriously considering it. "Keep it. You've proved your point."

"Well?" asked Nasiha.

"Fine. He can stay. I just want to know one thing."

"What?"

"Why is he doing this?"

Makini looked up. "Doing what?"

"Why do you want to go this way? A lot of good animals get killed in our business, you know."

"It's a lot less boring that just being a mate and father."

"And? There has to be another reason."

"It's Kassan. No one can be like Kassan. I just want to try." Makini shook his head in awe. "No one can do a job like Kassan."

Mataka looked as though he very strongly wanted to hit Makini.

"Alright, what's the plan?" asked Nasiha, his jaw muscles twitching with a hint of a smile as he stared at Mataka's face.

"Huh?" asked Mataka, snapping out of it.

"The plan."

"Right. Okay. We find the cubs. Shouldn't take more than a day to find out where they usually are. Maybe two. Next, we walk up to them. You two—" Mataka pointed at Nasiha—"are regulars here, shouldn't cause any problem. I get myself nice and mussed up, maybe even have you three beat me around a little, and I go with you. We talk to the lioness, say how you found me, how I haven't eaten for days, et cetera, et cetera, and while we do that the kid does his thing. We point out the cub's gone, go to the den, talk with the king, leave him a little threat that if he goes back on the exile after I lave that we'll wreak hell on the kingdom or something like that, and we all go our happy, separate ways after we return the cub."

Nasiha thought about it. "Could work. I'll tell Sudi to be here tomorrow."

"What? Are you crazy?" Mataka and Nasiha turned to look over at Makini, who seemed surprised he'd even spoke out.

"Beg pardon?" asked Mataka politely.

"How can that possibly go right? There are so many things that can go wrong with it it's not funny. And Nasiha never told me we'd be cubnapping!"

"You object to cubnapping?"

"Not normally, no. But not the king. Not Tanabi. I mean, how do you even expect to persuade him?"

"Simple." Mataka smiled. "I make myself unbearably unpleasant while pointing out the obvious truth the he won't get the cub back. There's a strategy that never fails for something like this: go to the top and make their lives hell. Course, since the job usually has the animal specified needing to be dead instead of terminally annoyed, it usually isn't needed, meaning that I have a wonderful talent that I don't get to use nearly often enough. But for this job, it's perfect."

Makini looked at him, shocked. "But he is a god. Gods are all-knowing."

Mataka _really_ looked like he wanted to his Makini now. "Animals—are—not—gods."

"But—"

"Kid, I had a job where a monster was killing off little leopard cubs and leaving their bodies for their mothers to find, half-eaten, all of them. They said it was some kind of demon. It was _not_ a demon, it was a revenge-fueled hyena so skilled it was almost a shame to kill her. That's just one example. I've got more, and I'm sure Nasiha has plenty, too. So get it through your head: the king is not a god."

Makini looked uncertainly at Mataka. "That goes against everything I've been raised with. That the gods are always there. That they're always guiding us."

"I'm not saying what Mommy told you was wrong. But you know, I'm pretty sure your mother never told you cubnapping was good, but look where you are now. The gods may be there, for all I know, but the king is not a god."

Makini stared at the ground uncertainly. Nasiha said softly, "It's just one more thing holding you back, Makini. Remember what your mother said your father said to her about you?"

Makini's face slowly changed from one of uncertainty to determination. Then it softened as he looked up with a smile. "Alright. I'll get over it. But what about Monah?"

"Kid," burst out Mataka, "what did I just say about—"

"No, he's right," interrupted Nasiha. "She could be a problem. Especially if she's the lioness with the cub."

"She won't be," said Makini. Mataka and Nasiha stared at him. "Well, she never is," protested Makini.

"How do you know this?" Nasiha asked slowly.

"Every day the cubs go out to play with a lioness, usually in groups of two or three. The royal cubs and Kisasa's cub are always together. Kisasa demands it that way. The lionesses differ from day to day, but Monah—the dark lioness—never cubsits. Ever. But she's always watching Tanabi's cubs. Look hard enough around and you'll see her, almost every time. Except for the times when she's wanted somewhere else. But the cubs, I know the route they'll take by heart." Makini stared at Mataka and Nasiha's stunned faces. "What? I've lived here my whole life, I'd better know _something_ about the place."

"He's got a point."

Mataka appeared to be thinking it over. "This could help." He looked back to Makini. "And to answer your question, yes, I am aware the plan is flawed. It always is. We take a couple of days to work out some of the problems, if we have a couple of days, and we do the job. You can't ask for perfection, or you lose your chance." Nasiha was nodding in agreement. "But let's see what you think the problems are."

"Me?" asked Makini in surprise.

"You."

"Uh . . . Well, for one, it's the timing. You have to wait for just the right lioness as an escort. That could take days. And even then we have to worry about Monah catching on to . . ."

They went on for a long time after that.

oOo

"Alright," said Nasiha, "we've got it worked out. Just wait for Ashani, and take the cub around mid-afternoon. Makini will look out from Monah, and if he sees her, he'll leave the cub. If that happens, Mataka goes to the den, and we have to think up something else."

"Sounds good," agreed Mataka.

"There's just one little thing I forgot to bring up," said Makini.

"This had better be a tiny thing."

"All of this falls apart if Tanabi knows you're here."

"He doesn't," Mataka said firmly.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that. He takes the monarchy seriously. There's rarely something he doesn't know about. And having another lion around is going to make an impression."

"Kid, no one knows I'm here."

"If you say so." Makini rose form the ground.

"Where are you going?" asked Nasiha.

"Nature calls."

"Oh."

Mataka and Nasiha watched him disappear into the grass. "He seems like a good kid," said Mataka. He looked back to Nasiha. "But . . ."

"How do you know there's a but?"

"There's always a but. There's never someone without any flaws. Not you, not me. And sure as hell not Kass, so don't try to bring him up as an example. So, but . . ."

Nasiha sighed. "But he's got self-esteem issues. Doesn't take much to swat him down. He thrives on compliments. But you have to be careful how you criticize. He'll overcome anything you throw at him; he wants to please and be praised. But open disappointment sets him back weeks. I pushed him too hard at the beginning and lost who knows how many days trying to get him to even want to start again. But that's all. Just a little coaching. There isn't really that much to criticize, either. He won't stop trying to live up to your expectations. He just can't."

"And that's it."

"That's it."

"No other surprises like that religious fix?"

"It's not a religious fix. And no, there shouldn't be."

"Hmm." Mataka thought it over. "What was that you fed him about his father?"

"His dad always wanted him to be the best he could. He always told him that as a cub. Makini loved his dad."

"You're using the past tense."

"Dad died when Makini was a year old."

"Ouch. Who was he?"

"Dunno. Makini never knew the name; he was always 'Dad.' I suppose—"

Nasiha's words were cut off by an eruption of sound. "Now where have I heard that before?" mused Mataka.

"How about that time you really pissed off Kassan?"

The roar was unleashed again.

"Yeah, that's it." Mataka sighed. "I _really_ hope the kid didn't do anything stupid."

Voices were heard coming closer through the grass where Makini had left. "I said _walk_," came Makini's voice.

"You don't need to do that." The voice was feminine.

"Move it!"

Nasiha smiled. "He certainly learned that well."

There was a grunt from the grass. "I said move it!"

"If you'd stop prodding me I'd move faster!"

"Want to stand up and see who it is?" asked Mataka.

"Let it be a surprise."

A lioness burst through the grass, followed closely by Makini. "I found her listening in on us."

"I wasn't listening," the lioness protested.

Mataka smiled. "Not at all?"

"Maybe a little."

"Should I kill her?" asked Makini.

"This coming from the same animal that was just pointing out how much interest the king takes in his kingdom. You think he'd notice if a lioness was suddenly gone?"

"Then what do we do?"

"Simple. We let her go."

Makini and Nasiha stared at Mataka in disbelief. Nasiha was the first to regain his voice. "I'm sorry, I could have sworn you said something stupid."

"She won't talk. Not if she wants us to do this job for her."

"You know, you could have just told us that."

Makini turned to the lioness. "Look, lioness, how much—"

"My name is Amana," said the lioness angrily.

"Fine, _Amana_, what did you hear?"

"Does it really matter?"

Nasiha turned to Mataka with a smile. "You accepted a job from _her?_"

"So?" said Amana angrily. There was a moment of silence.

"Alright, why are you here?" asked Mataka.

"I—I wanted to see what you were doing," said Amana quickly.

"Liar."

"So?"

"Okay, you know what we're doing. Now leave us to our work." Mataka turned back to Nasiha.

"I can't."

Mataka stopped in mid-turn. "You can't?" he repeated, turning back slowly. "And why can't you?"

"I've been asked to bring you to the den," said Amana shamefacedly. "The king wants to see you."

"Taka!" exploded Mataka.

"I wouldn't use that word around here," said Nasiha.

"Huh?"

"A king a while back was named Taka."

"What kind of idiot names their cub Taka?"

"Probably the kind of idiot that allows himself to be seen on a job like this."

"I was not seen!" Mataka turned to Amana. "Was I?"

"It was Monah," she said. "The dark—"

"The dark lioness." Mataka sighed. "She is beginning to really annoy me." He stood up. "It's time for plan B."

"We have a plan B?" asked Nasiha.

"Nope. But it's time for one."

"Ah."

"Just go to Ushairi, and kid, go home."

"What?" asked Makini angrily.

"Go home," said Nasiha firmly. "I'll get you when we've got something. And _I_—" he threw a dirty look at Mataka—"will think of a plan."

Mataka turned to the lioness with a sigh. "Fine. Take me to your leader." He began to follow her to "the big, pointy rock."


	2. The Plan

The Plan

The Plan

"That's impossible," protested Amana.

"I swear, it's the truth," said Mataka.

Amana began to climb the steps of Pride Rock. "You just cannot have a bad mane day."

Mataka followed her. "I guarantee it, it's true. Besides, you're a lioness. What would you know?"

"How would she know what?" boomed a voice from the den. An incredibly large, red-maned lion stepped out into the open with a smile.

"Alright, let me ask you: Have you ever had a bad mane day?"

The lion's smile widened. "Yes, they do exist, Amana." He turned his gaze to Mataka. "And you are?"

"Just a guy passing through."

"That's a bit of a mouthful to say, isn't it?"

Mataka laughed. "Alright. You can call me Mataka."

"I am Tanabi."

"Heard about you."

"I can't say the same."

"Lucky me."

"What are you doing here?"

"So formal, aren't we? And straight to the point."

"I'm just worried for my kingdom."

"Like I said, just passing through."

"You were here yesterday as well."

"I'm meeting friends. Catching up, stuff like that. I'll stay one, maybe two days longer. Possibly longer, with your majesty's permission, of course."

Tanabi's smile grew wider. "Why don't you stay with us?"

Mataka hesitated for a calculated second. "That's a very generous offer, sire. How do you know you can trust me?"

"I believe everyone deserves a chance."

"Huh." Mataka thought about it, considering his chances if he actually refused. "Alright. Don't see why not."

Tanabi looked at him with slight suspicion. "That was rather fast."

"'I believe everyone deserves a chance.'"

Tanabi chuckled. "Alright, that's me fooled." He turned to go inside. "Come on in."

Mataka followed him into the nearly empty den. He looked around at the few lionesses, some sleeping, two of them with cubs by their sides, taking their naps while the lionesses spoke quietly. Tanabi walked over to a lioness and nuzzled her, gently waking her up. "Where are the lionesses?" Mataka whispered to Amana.

"They're with the cubs or out sunbathing," she said in a normal voice. "There's no need to whisper. Most of them are awake, despite how they look."

"If you'll excuse me, Mataka, I have some business to attend to." Mataka turned to see the king walking towards him, the lioness he had been speaking to now sitting a smiling at Mataka and Amana. "Vitani," said Tanabi, nodding toward the lioness, "should be able to help you with anything you might need."

"Anything, huh?" Mataka asked with a sly smile.

"Within reason," amended Tanabi. "Now, if you'll just excuse me, I really do have to go." He walked out of the den.

"So, what now?" Mataka asked Amana.

"Now I sleep until dinner." She yawned. "Somehow I spent all of last week stuck with Kivuli. I'm still trying to catch up on sleep. Kisasa's cub," she added, seeing Mataka's confused expression. She flopped to the floor.

"When's dinner?"

"When I get back," said Vitani, yawning. "Come on, Amana. You're hunting, too."

"I already did hunt. Just yesterday."

"It's your turn again. Come on."

"Fine," Amana grumbled, rising from the floor. She followed Vitani outside the den after Vitani had woken up another lioness.

"And I'll just stay here, shall I?" said Mataka sarcastically.

"Sounds good to me," Amana called back.

"Fine," Mataka muttered. He slumped to the floor and closed his eyes. He couldn't pull off the cubnapping now, not this way. Monah would be watching him like a hawk, and Tanabi would have his eye on him, too. One wrong move and he'd find himself being run out of the kingdom just like in Kitano. He tried to think of a way to make it still work.

Nothing came.

He opened his eyes, only to find a dark green pair of eyes staring back at him centimeters away. He jerked up straight, his heart pounding in his chest the second time that day. He looked down to see a black cub rolling in laughter on the floor. The laughter stopped as "Nani!" rang out through the den, causing the laugher and two other cubs to cringe.

Tanabi stepped back into the den. "Nani, come here," he said sternly. A cub shuffled forward, her head hanging low. Another cub and the black one by Mataka's feet followed. Nani sat down in front of her father, the other two cubs sitting a little behind her. "Nani," said Tanabi, "where was your mother this morning?"

"With us," came the quiet answer.

"All the time?"

Silence.

Tanabi sighed. "You tied your mother's tail to a tree. That was very, _very_ wrong."

"It was funny," said the black cub.

"But wrong. And if I were you, Kivuli, I would worry more about what Kisasa will do to you." The black cub hung her head. "Now, why did you do this, Nani?"

"We just wanted to have some fun. It was Kivuli's idea."

"Yeah, do you have any idea how hard it was to tie her tail like that?" the third cub chimed in.

Tanabi's jaw muscles twitched, almost forming what Mataka could have sworn to be a smile. Tanabi opened his mouth, but was spared the necessity of further lecturing by the arrival of Vitani with a carcass. "I'll talk to you after dinner," he told the cubs.

Several other lionesses came in with carcasses. Cubs seemingly sprang out of nowhere, running to lionesses and dancing around them until they dropped the meat. "Here's one for you." Mataka turned to see Amana with a carcass at her feet. Amana turned around. "Kumbu?" she called. "Kumbu? Kumbukizi!" The last word was a scolding. A cub winced and turned toward Amana. "Kumbukizi, you come over here, right now!" The cub hung her head and walked over. "You don't need to be eating others' meat."

"Yes, Mom," Kumbukizi answered obediently. She was nearly as big as Amana, big enough to be considered a lioness. The only reason for her not being considered one was that she hadn't hunted with the pride yet. "Who's he?"

Mataka stopped halfway down to the carcass. "I'm . . . I'm Mataka."

"Oh. Okay." The cub buried her head in the meat. Mataka did the same. The rest of the night passed uneventfully. Mataka was introduced to several lionesses, told the ones he wasn't introduced to's names, stared intently at Kivuli all night long, and fell asleep, cursing himself for still not having a plan.

oOo

Kisasa stormed up the back of Pride Rock to Tanabi and Vitani, who were watching the sunset again. She knew they enjoyed their time here together, and they preferred to be alone and never disturbed unless it was absolutely necessary. But this was just too far for her. Tanabi heard her coming and looked up. "Yes, Kisasa?"

"I want him gone," she said angrily.

"Sorry?"

"I want that filthy rogue out of the den."

"Kisasa—" began Tanabi patiently.

"Don't 'Kisasa' me! I want that slime out of the den! Out of the Pridelands! Now!"

"Kisasa, he's a guest. My guest."

"I don't give a damn!"

"Kisasa, you're speaking to the king," reminded Vitani.

"I helped raise him! He owes me!"

"Kisasa—" began Vitani, shocked.

"No, Vitani, it's alright," said Tanabi. "She's just—emotional about this." Kisasa scowled. "Kisasa, I can't very well kick out my own guest. Besides, he didn't get here any more than a few hours ago."

"That's too long. Get him out of here, _now_."

"Kisasa . . ." He stared at her furious face. She honestly looked angry enough to think about trying to kill Mataka. It was the angriest Tanabi had ever seen her.

"That thing is a menace! He's around my cub! He's around all of the cubs! He's around the elders! They could _die_, Tanabi. He wouldn't hesitate to do it."

"He really can't be that bad—"

"He is!" yelled Kisasa.

"Kisasa . . . was he—was he one of the ones that hurt you?"

"What does it matter?!" screamed Kisasa. "Every rogue is the same! They all deserve to _die!_ All of them!!"

"Kisasa, I will not put him out of the den," said Tanabi firmly.

"After all I've said?!"

"He—is—my—guest. And he will be given the respect and treatment a guest deserves. That is final."

Kisasa glared at Tanabi angrily. "Very well, sire," she said stiffly. "But I will not leave my cub alone. I absolutely refuse to hunt while that—monster is there."

"Kisasa, we have migration in just two days. We have to have you hunt. Every lioness has to hunt."

"You'll have to get rid of him before I so much as move from Kivuli."

"Is this the respect you show to the king and queen?" demanded Vitani.

"I will not hunt. Either he goes, or I don't. That is final."

Vitani began to respond angrily when Tanabi cut her off with a wave of his paw. "Fine. Vitani, we've got more lionesses than ever. Can't you do with just one missing?"

"I . . ."

"Honestly."

"I suppose," admitted Vitani grudgingly.

"Alright then. Kisasa, go ahead and head back down to the den. You are not to harass Mataka. Just stay away from him if you have nothing pleasant you can do."

"Very well, sire," said Kisasa bitterly. She turned and headed back down to the den.

oOo

_It was three months later_. _The lioness was thoroughly depressed_. _Nothing seemed to cheer her up since he had left_. _The world was empty_. _She walked to the waterhole alone_. _She was the first up today_. _She enjoyed being alone_. _Her misery did not love company_.

_He was there_.

_She ran to him, tackled him, kissed him lovingly_._ Then she got off him suddenly, embarrassed by her display_. _She looked guiltily at his face, all guilt disappearing with his smile_. _"Where did you go?" she asked_.

_"I'm sorry," he apologized_. _"I just couldn't stay_._ But I'm here now_._"_

_He was right_. _Forget the past, what did it matter? He was here_. _"I love you_._"_

oOo

Tanabi didn't trust Mataka. He trusted him to a point, but it was very, _very_ limited. He still remembered what happened to Kovu. Like his parents' deaths, he still felt it was something he could have avoided if he had tried harder. Kovu had had good inside him. He simply had not had enough, and Tanabi felt he could have given that to him.

Tanabi was not about to make another mistake like that.

Maybe that was why he didn't trust Mataka. He looked so much like Kovu. The black mane, the muscular form. Except for the eyes. Those blue eyes definitely weren't Kovu's. But it didn't matter who Mataka looked like, he still didn't trust him.

So he decided to get the truth out of Mataka. In the only way he knew how. He went to Mataka that night and placed a paw on his side. He said quietly into Mataka's ear, "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah," said Mataka, only his mouth moving. "Of course. I'm looking right at you. Wow . . . what is this place? I have got to be dreaming."

Tanabi found this disturbing. No one else had mentioned seeing him when he had linked with them, except Vitani. And Vitani had actually _seen_ him. But still, he couldn't see into their heads, just talk to them. They probably saw something. And it was probably different for every animal. "Yes, you're dreaming. Sort of. I'm talking to you."

"But aren't I asleep?"

"Yes."

"Odd."

"You won't remember anything we say here when you wake up. You won't remember it ever unless we talk like this."

"Yep, I'm dreaming."

"Why did you come here?"

Tanabi saw Mataka's brow crease slightly. "I told you, didn't I? I was just passing through."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Do you not trust me?"

"King, I trust you about as far as I could throw a fit."

Tanabi increased the link. "Really. Tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Why are you here?"

"Why're any of us here?"

"You know what I mean."

"I visited some friends. I plan to do it for a couple more days, then high-tail it out of here."

"Anything else?"

Mataka smiled. "Well, I did toy with the idea of stealing one of your cubs."

"What?!"

"Easy. They're too big."

"Is this your idea of a joke?"

"You ask for honesty, I deliver."

"Are you being completely honest with me?"

"Course not."

Tanabi growled. "What is it you're not telling me?"

"Well, that'd take all the fun out of it, wouldn't it?"

"If you hurt anyone in this pride—"

"Relax. I won't hurt anyone. Now, that little black ball of fur, _she_ might kill someone with the way she ricochets around the den."

"What aren't you saying?" Tanabi demanded. He'd seen this before. If someone really didn't want to tell him something, he couldn't get it out of them. But they had to really want it. He couldn't afford to take chances with Mataka. "Tell me, or I'll kill you." He moved his paw to Mataka's throat.

"Yeah, that's smart. King, I have fought in so many battles it's not funny. If you so much as lay a paw on me, you're dead."

"I have my paw on your throat."

"They're all on the ground. What do you think I am, blind?"

Tanabi sighed. He couldn't kill guests in his own den. Especially not after what he had told Kisasa. He moved his paw to a safer place. "I'm going to ask you one last time. Why are you here? Who are you here for? And be honest."

"'Who am I here for?'" Mataka snickered. "King, I just care about me, myself, and I."

"Is—is that really how you feel?" asked Tanabi, stunned by such callous and open selfishness.

Mataka was silent.

"Well?" asked Tanabi after a reasonable pause.

"There's . . . There's a lioness I met," Mataka said quietly. "Years ago. And her cub. I care more deeply about them than you know."

"What was her name?"

"_Is_ her name. And that, King, is something you will _never_ know unless you kill me first. And good luck getting it out of me even then."

It was Tanabi's turn to be quiet. "Alright," he finally said. He decided he wasn't going to get anything more out of Mataka. "Good night."

"And good night to you, to, your highness. Strangest damn dream I've ever . . ." Mataka's voice trailed off as Tanabi removed his paw. Tanabi walked back to his place by Vitani, somewhat more convinced then before. Mataka went on sleeping.

oOo

Mataka woke up before anyone else, rotating his neck and hearing it pop. He let out a yawn and got to his feet. He left the den silently, disturbing no one. He immediately began walking towards the closest water hole he knew of, his mind picking up where it left off the night before. He tried to think of something that might work, short of actually beating down Tanabi and making off with the cub. There was always a possibility, he mused, as he lowered his head to the water, of letting that kid, Makini, try to sneak in at night, but there was still the problem of Monah probably being awake. The lioness never seemed to sleep. Mataka shut off the flow of thoughts as he lapped up water, trying to relax. He heard a rustle in the grass and gave a sigh.

"What, Kass?"

"Just wondering how it was going," said the black-furred leopard.

"Are you following me?"

"Are you worth it?"

Mataka saw his reflection frown. "It's not going well," he finally forced out. He looked up at Kassan, seeing the leopard staring at him intently. "There's no way to get the cub alone."

"You just need to minimize the number around the cub."

"You think I'm an amateur? If you're going to just mock me, leave. Just leave, or do something decent for once in your life."

"It's not my fault you've always been behind me."

"That's a lie," snarled Mataka. "And I'll prove it to you right here if you don't shut up. You know why I hate you."

"Temper. Otherwise I might have to arrange for an accident when you hunt tomorrow. It _is_ migration, you know." He stared even more intently at Mataka than before.

"Migration?"

"Yes, you know, when all the animals decide they're too good to stay here."

"Migration . . ." Tumblers began to fall into place in Mataka's head. Migration—big hunt—all lionesses gone—Kivuli alone—Tanabi alone—He looked up at Kassan, only to see his rear end disappearing through the grass. Mataka hesitated, then called out, "You're really a lion, you know that, Kass?"

"And you," came the response, "are a worthless pile of zebra dung."

oOo

"I got it!"

Mataka jumped down into the cheetah pit, almost killing himself with the fall. He ran past the cheetahs who sat up in surprise, a few snarling at having been waked. "I have got it!" He ran to the other side, immediately looking to Sudi, who was lying on his back. "Where's Nasiha?"

"Over there, but—"

Mataka didn't stay to listen, instead running where Sudi had gestured with yet another yell of "I got it!" There was another short gap between that pit and another, much smaller one. "I got—" He broke off abruptly, seeing Nasiha and Ushairi looking up at him in surprise, one of Nasiha's forelegs over his mate in a way that quite suggested what Mataka had almost barged in on. There was an embarrassing pause. "Am I interrupting anything?"

Nasiha opened his mouth, but Ushairi beat him to it. "No, of course not. It can wait."

"Now what," asked Nasiha, a slight edge of irritation in his voice, "is so important that you couldn't wait until a decent hour of the day to tell us?"

"I've got it."

"Is it contagious?"

"Ha, ha. I've got it. I've got the plan. It's all up here. Just one thing: how nice it the king?"

Nasiha thought about it. "You'd have to ask Ushairi about that."

"Well?"

"Well," she said slowly, "I suppose he's pretty benevolent . . ."

"If he saw a fight or something, would he stop it?"

"Probably. I mean, wouldn't anyone?"

Nasiha smiled. "Fewer than you know."

"Great," said Mataka absentmindedly. "Great." He snapped back. "Alright, Nasiha, get Makini, and take him . . . Okay, take him where we were yesterday. I think I remember it. I'll be there in a couple of hours, hopefully less. I'm gonna borrow Sudi."

"Mataka, what's the rush? And why take Lucky?"

"I'll explain later, but now we don't have the time." He ran out of the pit back into Sudi's.

"What are you thinking?" Nasiha called after him.

"Hyenas!"

"Mataka!" exploded Nasiha, partially rising from the ground. He looked down to see Ushairi's paw on his.

"Don't worry about it. You said he knows what he's doing."

Nasiha sighed. "Maybe. But Makini—"

"Always comes here. You know that." She nuzzled him. "Just relax. You can afford to do that now."

Nasiha relaxed.

oOo

"I thought you said they were here," Mataka said irritably.

"I said around here," said Sudi. "There aren't that many hyenas around here, they all ran off years ago. Some crazy old lioness promised to kill 'em all. They've only begun to come back now. Besides, do you expect me to keep track of hyenas? I'm usually not here."

"You grew up here; that should be enough." Mataka was testy, and the scenery wasn't helping. Bones, rock, and methane vents definitely weren't his décor of choice. The vents had given off so much gas that even the sky overhead was clouded. Mataka felt unclean just being in it.

"What do you want hyenas for anyway? And why do would they be interested in you?"

"Oh, the ones I've got in mind are interested in me. Almost killed me. I'm pretty sure they want to finish the job."

"This place is huge. They could be anywhere. How could you possibly expect to find them? Might as well just ask the skeletons."

"Why not?" Mataka raised his voice to a yell. "Hey, any of you dead guys seen some hyenas? You know, little furry things that look uglier than your mother's butt?" Sudi laughed. "Come on, any of you? None of you have seen any? Let me refresh your memory: Your mother's was _so_ big and smelly, herds actually thought the back end was more dangerous than the front. Your mother's butt was so ugly, it stopped stampedes. And her _face_. _It_ was so ugly—"

Mataka's little speech was cut off by his wind being knocked out by a projectile that knocked him off his feet onto his back. From Sudi's laughter turning to yells, he expected Sudi was getting the same treatment. The projectile jumped onto Mataka's chest, its teeth bared, and bit into Mataka's left foreleg as hard as it could. Mataka simply watched as the hyena viciously shook the leg back and forth. The hyena finally stopped and let go, staring at the leg. Mataka's right leg whacked the hyena in the face, knocking it off. Mataka flipped over, rushing to Sudi and knocking off one hyena while Sudi knocked off the last one. Mataka turned back to the one that had been mauling his leg. It was still on the ground, staring at Mataka in shock. The others hung back, staring at their leader.

"Uh . . . oh, gods . . . oh . . ." The lead hyena seemed to be unable to string together a sentence.

"What?" asked Mataka. He looked down to where the hyena was staring and saw his leg was bleeding, teeth marks deep into it. "Oh." Mataka began to lick it, the blood still coming from the bite marks. "You really did a number on me there."

"What are you?"

"Huh? A lion, of course."

"But—"

"Shut up and listen. I know you want to kill me, and I'm not too fond of you, so if you're going to say no, I'll give you a chance to do it quickly. I'm asking for your help."

"And why should we help you?" growled one of the underlings in a much, much deeper voice than expected.

Mataka turned to the hyena and saw him blanch at the sight of Mataka's leg. "Because thus us a wonderful opportunity for you."

"How . . . how are you standing on that?"

"Huh? Okay, you see, you place the paw on the ground, and then you apply pressure."

"But your leg—"

"Never mind the mangled leg. I don't have time to waste. So you're either going to help me or not, and you're going to say so right now."

"Help you with what?" asked the leader.

"Akida!" growled the deep-voiced one.

"Shaka, Mother gave me authority over both you and Katili, so shut up."

"Thank you," said Mataka. "Now, all you need to know it that what's in it for you is food. Lots of it."

"How do you expect me to trust you? I see two meals that just walked right in."

"I don't expect you to trust me. I _do_, however, expect you to as I tell you if you say yes."

"Mother would never have wanted this," snarled deep-voiced Shaka.

"Mother would have wanted us full, and she wouldn't have cared how it was done. So stop playing Afriti's advocate." Akida looked back at Mataka. "What do you want us to do?"

"You'll find out if you come with me. Come on, Sudi." Mataka began to leave with deliberate slowness, the cheetah behind him, hearing the three hyenas arguing. Shaka almost refused to be swayed. Finally, the offer of food and the pressure of his brothers got to him.

"Alright, alright, fine," Mataka heard him explode. The hyenas ran to catch up with Mataka and Sudi.

"Where are we going?" asked Akida, the leader.

"Just wait and you'll see."

oOo

"No."

"Come on, Nasiha," Mataka pleaded.

"Absolutely, positively no."

"Why not?" growled Shaka.

"Because I—don't—like—you."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" snarled Katili, apparently the youngest of the three hyenas. The hyenas stepped toward Nasiha in a way Mataka didn't like.

"Whoa, easy there," said Mataka, inserting himself between Nasiha and the hyenas. "No need for that. Nasiha, can I just talk to you for a couple of seconds?"

"No," snarled Nasiha, still glaring furiously at Akida. The lead hyena refused to back down either. "You can say it in front of these low-down, dirty, sons of bitches, too."

"Aiheu, fella, _I_ didn't eat your cub," said Akida.

"You would in a heartbeat if I had one, you worthless piece of filth—"

"And we're walking," said Mataka, nudging Nasiha towards the edge of the clearing.

"Didn't you hear me? I said no!"

"You know you didn't mean it," said Mataka, ignoring Nasiha's protests and forcing him backwards.

"Mataka—" Mataka put a paw on Nasiha's muzzle and pushed him back out of the clearing, then stepped out after him.

"Come on, move it."

"We're far enough away."

"I said _move_."

Nasiha grudgingly began to walk away from the clearing. After a little while he sat down defiantly. "What?"

"What is your problem?"

"I don't work with hyenas."

"I've seen you do it before. You didn't have any problems with it then."

"Necessity makes allies."

"Don't give me that shit."

"I only worked with them because I had to. That's the bare truth. I've always hated hyenas, and you know it."

"But you never let it interfere before."

"This is my last job. _And_ I have seniority on you. So give me some respect."

"You provincial lout."

"Maybe."

"You absolutely refuse to do this?"

"Not with them."

"Fine. Then I'm stuck trying to find a competent con by tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes. Otherwise, the plan's ruined and I might actually have to kill someone. I really doubt any sane animal could get out of an entire pride of lions, so there's the possibility of me going to that great big den in the sky. Either way, I really don't want bloodshed on this one, mine or theirs."

"This job means something to you."

"Yes it does."

"What?"

"Maybe it's just because it's the first cubnapping to actually work."

"You're lying."

"Yes, I am. You refuse to do this?"

"Nothing could convince me save beating one of them to death."

Mataka sat, staring at the ground. He finally looked up. "I think I can manage that."

"You're joking."

"No. In fact, this should make it more convincing."

Nasiha smiled after a pause of nodding his head and mulling it over. "You almost had me thinking you bothered to change the plan for me."

"Did I really? I felt I rushed it."

"No, it was good. Almost. Too long of a pause, actually."

"See, this is why you're the con and I'm the muscle." Mataka paused. "So will you do it?"

"Alright. I'll do it. But you had better not be lying about the beating."

"Trust me, no lie. And the more brutal, the better."

"Good."

"Now, come on. We don't have a lot of time." Mataka started back toward the clearing, Nasiha by his side.

"By tomorrow's a tall order."

"Too much for you?"

"I'm worried about the hyenas."

Mataka laughed as they walked into the clearing. "Alright, this is the plan."

oOo

The hyenas left to go back to their graveyard, Nasiha and Sudi back to their pit, and Makini to wherever he went. Mataka wondered idly if the leopard had a home. Nasiha had told him he'd lost his father, and when Makini had stayed behind he'd learned he'd lost more than that.

"Kid," Mataka had said to him after Nasiha and the others had left, "don't you think you need to get home to your mother? She'll be worried about you."

"No, she won't," the young leopard had said.

"Oh, come on. I know mothers can be hard on their cubs, but that doesn't mean they don't love them. You see—"

"She's dead."

There was a very prolonged pause.

"Oh. . . . I never knew. I thought Nasiha would have told me."

Makini had shaken his head. "He doesn't know. He thinks my aunt's my mom."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She loves me, though."

There had been a slight pause where Makini had seemed to be working up the courage to ask Mataka something. "Out with it, kid."

"Can I go with you?"

"What?"

"When you leave. Can I come with?"

"Kid, you've got a good life here. You don't want to just throw it all away, do you?"

"I've thought about it."

"You need to think about it more."

"I've thought it over for months. Ever since Nasiha came the first time . . . Either I leave with you, or I go my own way."

Mataka had sighed. "Alright, I'll think about it. But just that," he had added, seeing Makini's ears spring up. "Just thinking."

"Please hurry."

"I said I'll think about it. Don't rush me." Mataka had paused. "How she d—"

"Hunting accident."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Mataka had paused again. "Come back in the morning, I s'pose."

"Alright." Makini had gotten up and within seconds Mataka could see no more of him. Mataka had sighed and turned toward Pride Rock. So now he was walking, just enjoying the night air. He heard a rustle in the grass.

"Makini?" Mataka hissed. "Makini?"

"It's Monah." Mataka turned hurriedly to see a figure slightly less darkly colored than Makini, but with eyes that pierced sharply through the night that most definitely were not Makini's.

"What do _you_ want?" Mataka asked rudely.

"The king has instructed me to escort you back. It'd be a shame if something happened to a guest."

Mataka resumed walking. "So he sent you, out of all the other lionesses?"

"He trusts me."

"Of course he does. I mean, someone as old as you has to depend on him. You can't very well go out on your own, you're unfit."

"Tanabi isn't like that."

"Please. Every king is alike. They're all pompous, arrogant jerks who enjoy having a little harem to pick and choose from, all while maintaining some _wonderful_ sense of power by lording over a few wildeb—"

"Shut _up!_" Mataka turned hurriedly to look at Monah. She had all weapons exposed. "Tanabi is _not_ like that. And don't you _dare_ say otherwise."

"Right, I forgot you taught him everything he knows." Mataka turned his back to Monah and kept walking. "Okay, I admit, I don't know him that well. But if he is decent, he's one of the few I know that actually are."

Monah didn't respond. They walked the rest of the way to the den in silence. Tanabi was waiting at the top. "So I guess you really don't trust me, do you, king?"

"I'm just worried for your welfare," Tanabi said honestly. He turned to the den. "There's some leftover meat outside if you're hungry."

Monah stalked by Mataka with a snarl. He watched her stalk out of the back of the den. He heard a faint growl and looked over at Kisasa next to her cub. She was staring at Mataka, her blue eyes glaring at him through the darkness. Kivuli snuggled closer to her mother in her sleep. Mataka walked over to an unoccupied corner of the den and lied down. _Yes, guard that cub nice and well_. _For all the good it will do you_.

oOo

_Mataka lied in the grass next to the lioness, the sky darkening over the carcass she was eating_. _He'd finished his, he waited for her to finish hers_. _It was only polite_. _Mataka felt an unyielding impulse to please her_. _He rolled onto his back, looking at the sky_. _The stars were coming out_._ They were the only things that had remained constant no matter where he went_. _The chewing sounds stopped_. _Mataka looked over to see the lioness staring at him_. _"What are you thinking about?"_

_Mataka sighed_. _"Just home, I guess_._"_

_"You have a—" The lioness stopped herself_.

_Mataka laughed_. _"Yes, I have a home_. _Unbelievable, isn't it?"_

_The lioness gave a little smile, relieved he wasn't upset_. _"I guess_. _It's just_ . . . _I never thought of rogues as having a place they can call home_._"_

_Mataka was silent for a moment_. _"That's true for me_. _I don't really have a place to call home_. _I get restless, no matter where I go_. _I just can't stay put_. _It's why I left_. _I was just thinking about home, you know, as in where I grew up_._" He paused_. _"Yeah, I could have been king right about now_._"_

_The lioness stared at him in disbelief_. _"You're a prince?"_

_"In the loosest sense of the term_. _Hereditary only_. _And I do _not_ want to be associated with a bunch of uppity royals_._ My father was one of the few decent kings I've known_._"_

_The lioness walked over and lied down next to Mataka_. _"What was he like?"_

_"He was a strong king_. _He had to be_._" Mataka suddenly laughed_. _"Yes, that's right_ . . ._"_

_"What?"_

_"I'll never forget what he said to me every day_. _'Good work today, Mataka_. _Get a good night's sleep_. _I'll probably kill you in the morning_._'"_

_"That's awful," said the lioness, shocked_.

_"Not really_. _He had to be harsh_. _The kingdom had been left to him and his power-hungry brother who didn't have the guts to do anything_. _If he'd shown the slightest sign of weakness, my uncle would have said he wasn't fit to rule_. _It took me a whole year to realize what my father meant when he said that_. _It was the only way he could say 'I love you_._'" Mataka sighed_. _"I haven't seen him in a whole year_._"_

_"Why?"_

_"Like I said, I can't just stay put_. _Being a king would have driven me crazy_. _So he let me go_. _He exiled me, walked me to the boundaries by himself, said, for the first time I'd heard it, 'I love you_._' He loved me enough to let me go_ . . . _I do visit him though_. _It's the least I can do_._ But I keep thinking that when I go back, he won't be there_._ It's one of the worst things I can imagine_._"_

_The lioness nuzzled Mataka in pity_. _An idea struck her_. _"You know, my mother always told me something_. _All the kings are up in the sky, in every star, watching over you_._"_

_Mataka grinned_. _"Funny_. _Where I come from, we had sayings like 'Don't eat your cub after he's six months old_._'"_

_The lioness looked disgusted_. _"That's horrible_._"_

_"No, they're quite good actually_. _The intestines hit the spot just right_._"_

_"That has got to be the most disgusting thing I've ever—"_

_Mataka burst out laughing_. _"I'm joking_._" He gave a huge yawn_. _"Gods, I'm tired_. _Bedtime_._" He looked over at the lioness with a grin_. _"And yes, I will stay there, all night_._"_

_Surprising him completely, the lioness gave him a lick on the cheek as she slipped a leg across his chest_. _"And what if I don't want you to stay there?"_

_Mataka smiled_. _"I think I can arrange that_._"_

oOo

Amana felt a gentle rubbing between her shoulder blades. "Ooh," she muttered. "That feels good." The rubbing grew harder. "Yeah, that's it." The rubbing stopped and she felt a smack. "Hey! That—" A paw suddenly clamped over her mouth. A voice in her ear said:

"Shh." Amana looked up to see Mataka looking furtively around the den. "Get up. I need to tell you something." He began to carefully step over lionesses to leave the den. Amana yawned and followed him. The first thing she noticed was the stars.

"It's dark," she quietly pointed out.

"It has to be. It's the only safe time I could think of to tell you this. Now listen. If this goes well, you can have your leopard friends back in by tomorrow. But you gave to do _exactly_ what I tell you, nothing less, and absolutely nothing more. If you do this wrong, you could end up like your friends. Do you understand?"

"I—I think so," Amana said nervously.

"Good. Now here's what to do. You can say more than this but be _careful_. When you go hunting tomorrow . . ."

oOo

Mataka yawned as he woke up, the den somewhat awake around him. He, like any decent animal in his trade, had a perfect alarm clock in his head. He didn't quite understand it; he just needed to know that it worked. He looked around the den. Tanabi was pacing in front of the den, and Kisasa was by her cub, her eyes opened into tiny slits. Amana was nervously grooming Kumbukizi. "Mom," Kumbukizi protested, "enough already."

Amana left off on the grooming. "Alright. I just wish you didn't have to pick today."

"Pick today for what?" Mataka asked.

Both Amana and Kumbukizi looked over, surprised to find Mataka awake. "It's her first hunt," Amana explained.

"Today, I become a lioness," said Kumbukizi proudly.

"You're doing migration as your first hunt?" Mataka asked.

"Yep."

"That's ambitious."

"_Too_ ambitious," said Amana. She began to groom Kumbukizi again. "Do you have any idea how likely you are to get hurt?"

"Mom, stop it!" Amana stopped grooming again. "I'll be fine. Besides, it's not like I'll be alone. The whole pride's out there."

"Yeah," said Mataka, "but how likely is it that any of them will be fast enough to make pick-up?"

"'Pick-up?' What am I, a piece of meat?"

"If you were," Amana said nervously, "all I'd have to worry about is you making it past the lionesses." She resumed grooming.

"Mom, if you don't stop it, I'll have twenty extra pounds of your spit weighing me down!"

"Of course," said Mataka, "_I'm_ always open for grooming."

"Eww! Gross!" Kumbukizi made a face. "I am _so_ gone." She left to join a group of lionesses around her age.

Amana sighed. "Relax," Mataka said. "She'll be fine."

"I hope so."

"You just need to worry about yourself." Mataka yawned and stood up. "I'll see you later." He walked to toward the mouth of the den. "Big day, king?"

Tanabi barely looked up before he resumed pacing. "Yes. So please don't bother me."

"Of course. I'll be back later."

"Of course," Tanabi muttered as Mataka left.


	3. The Job

The Job

**A/N: I'd just like to thank everyone for all the wonderful reviews I've gotten for the story. The sheer support has been overwhelming. It's great to know that people are still willing to give new things a chance.**

oOo

The Job

"Did you tell her?" Nasiha asked as Mataka came into the clearing.

"Of course I told her. I'm not incompetent. Where's the kid?"

"Right here," said Makini, appearing inches from Mataka.

"Don't _do_ that," said Mataka, his heart racing.

"You jumped at least a foot in the air," laughed Makini.

"_Not funny_." Mataka turned to back to Nasiha. "You got the food?" Nasiha looked at the ground guiltily. "You for—you forgot the food? What's with you?"

"Um, food?" asked Sudi. He had been talking with the hyenas. Shaka, the angry one, had seemed much less surly after hearing his job.

"You can't do a job on an empty stomach."

"Sorry," said Nasiha. "I guess you'll have to look in the grass over there or something." He looked up with a smile.

Mataka sighed. "Both you _and_ your godson are _really_ getting on my nerves." He walked to the grass, stuck his head in, and brought out it back out with a leg in his mouth. The rest of the carcass followed. The hyenas stopped talking and began looking at the carcass hungrily. Mataka dragged it to the center. "Dig in."

In less than five minutes the carcass was stripped.

Mataka leaned back. "That's better." He rotated his neck, hearing the vertebrae pop. "Okay, we're going now. And you two—" he pointed at Shaka and Katili—"are not to touch _any_ lionesses. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," said Shaka.

"Good. Lucky, you know where you're supposed to be."

"I'm already gone." Sudi disappeared into the grass.

"Okay. You three, let's go." Mataka walked into the grass followed by Nasiha, Akida, and Makini.

"You know," said Nasiha after a few minutes of walking, "I still don't see why we have to do it this way."

"Huh?" said Mataka.

"I mean, I have a wonderful talent for fighting, and so do you. We could do this a lot easier if you didn't have this violence thing."

"Makini, listen up. _This_ is how to gripe. Please continue."

"The way I see it, we could just go in there, just the two of us, clear out whoever's still in the den, just leave 'em unconscious, grab the cub, and go. There you go, cubnapping's over."

"Nasiha, while that does sound nice, let's just stick to the plan, huh? Just trust my instincts."

"Like we did at Alanu?"

"Alright, that was one bad job."

"Same for Cheko? Kitano? The Kube?"

"Alright, so I don't have a perfect track record. But remember, you were there for most of them, too. Don't worry, this one will be fine."

"We hope."

After that there was silence until they met the lionesses traveling to the hunt. Immediately Akida and Nasiha began violently arguing. It was impossible for the lionesses not to notice. They started for the group. "What's going on?" one of them asked.

"Look, uh . . ." Mataka struggled for a name.

"Vitani."

"Vitani, the king really does need to see this."

"See what? That hyena shouldn't even be here."

"Yeah, that's the thing, though. You see, they've got a problem. Now, I know the cheetah, and I kind of, you know, promised him I'd arrange something. With the king."

"You had no right to do that," rebuked Vitani.

"I know, I know. I just wanted to help him out, keep him from killing the hyena."

"Who's the leopard?"

"Witness. Now, look, we nee to see the king _now_."

"We're kind of in the middle of a hunt."

"I'll take them back," Amana said, stepping forward.

"What about Kumbu?" asked Vitani.

"Well . . ." Amana looked convincingly reluctant. "This won't take long, will it?" she asked Mataka.

"Shouldn't."

"Great. I'll be back in time then."

"Alright," conceded Vitani. "But remember, we can't wait."

"Right." Amana turned to Mataka. "Come on." She began walking back toward Pride Rock.

"Thanks," said Mataka. He turned back to Nasiha and Akida. "Will you two shut up and come on?"

Nasiha and Akida fell silent and reluctantly followed, staring daggers at each other. Makini followed silently. The lionesses continued on their way. Mataka finally spoke to Amana when he felt they had gotten far enough away. "Scared?"

"I'm shaking all over."

"I'm fine, too, Mataka," said Nasiha. "Thanks."

oOo

Tanabi was continuing to pace the floor of the den. No matter how many times Kiara or Monah had gotten him to stop, he'd started again. He knew he shouldn't worry. Vitani was an excellent huntress, and always did her best to bring everyone home uninjured. Last migration she'd set a kind of record, no injuries at all, not even a scratch. But Tanabi still worried.

"Tanabi, get a grip," said Kiara. "They'll be fine."

"Some of them have barely started. I shouldn't have let all of them go."

"If you didn't we'd be short meat."

"I know, but what if something _happens?_"

"Tanabi!" Tanabi's ears perked up at the sound of Amana's voice. He rushed out of the den.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"Calm down, Tanabi," Amana said soothingly. "No one's hurt. The hunt hasn't even started yet."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Uh, sire, that'd be me." Mataka stepped forward. "Got a little problem, thought you should handle it." Mataka nodded to a cheetah and a hyena, who were looking about ready to kill each other.

"Fine," said Tanabi, walking back up to the den. He almost wished it hadn't been a false alarm. He'd have to go back to worrying. He watched Amana and Mataka go into the den, being followed by a leopard. "Stop," he said. The leopard froze, and slowly turned around.

"Me, sire?" he asked.

"What are you doing here?"

"He's just a witness," interjected Mataka. "He'll be with us until you want him. I'll keep an eye on him."

"But what's the problem?"

"The problem," exploded the cheetah, "is that this filthy scum has eaten my cubs!"

"I didn't!" protested the hyena. "Sire, you have to believe me!"

Makini continued into the den and lied down beside Mataka and Amana, half of his head listening to the heated debate outside, half of it staring around the den. Monah, surprisingly, was in the den, her lithe, dark brown body lying down on the floor of the den.

Mataka felt Kisasa's eyes boring into him. He cursed silently. He hadn't wanted her to be here. All of the cubs were in the corner on the care of a couple of older lionesses, too old to do much more than cubsit. It wasn't really cubsitting, more just watching the cubs wrestling and breaking it up whenever it got out of hand. Makini walked over to the cubs, some of them stopping their "fights" when he came over.

"Who're you?" asked one cub, his green eyes standing out.

"I'm Makini."

"Hey, Kivuli, come here." A cub who was on the back of another, enthusiastically using the scruff of the cub's neck as a chew toy, looked up and came over, followed by the cub she had been chewing on.

"What?" Kivuli asked.

"He's almost as dark as you!"

"He is not!" Kivuli jumped toward Makini, who drew a foreleg up in surprise. Kivuli wrapped herself around his other foreleg, her coloring only a tiny shade darker. "See? I'm much darker."

"It's close!"

"It is not!"

The argument outside was reaching its climax. "Dammit," Nasiha was saying, he ate my cubs! Do something!"

"What do you want me to do?" Tanabi asked patiently. "All hyenas have already been exiled from the Pridelands before my time. This one shouldn't even be here."

"And isn't the penalty for refusing exile death?"

"Yes, but that punishment hasn't been served for years."

"This smelly, mangy, filth-ridden son of a bitch has just eaten my cubs! I want some compensation!"

"Who're you calling mangy?" asked Akida. "And I didn't do it!"

"My son's neck was in your mouth!"

"Sire, I swear it wasn't me!" pleaded Akida.

"I'm not saying it was," said Tanabi. "Just let me think it over."

"If you're not going to do anything, I will!" Nasiha launched himself at Akida, trying to beat every inch of him he could reach. Akida sunk his teeth into Nasiha's leg, only drawing a roar from Nasiha, accompanied by more blows. Tanabi tried to separate the two, only to be beaten back. All the cubs had stopped to watch. This was a whole lot better than _their_ fights.

"Kiara! Monah! Kisasa! Get out here!" The three lionesses sprang to Tanabi, Kisasa taking a quick look back at her cub first.

Mataka sighed in relief. Makini was looking at him. "Go, kid, go!" Mataka said quietly.

Makini turned back to Kivuli. "We're going on a little trip." He picked up Kivuli by the scruff of her neck.

"A trip? Al_right!_" The last syllable echoed around the den. The fight had just been broken up. Kisasa turned to see her cub, smiling, being taken out the hole Kiara had made some time ago in the back of the den.

"Kivuli!" she yelled. She ran toward the hole than stopped to avoid colliding with Mataka, who suddenly appeared before her, smiling. She brought her paw down on him, only to have it deflected and have herself knocked to the ground from a blow by Mataka. "Kivuli!" she screamed as she saw Makini run across the savannah, the happily unaware cub in his mouth.

oOo

The two hyenas crouched low in the grass, waiting to disrupt the lionesses' hunt in any way they could. They could see the lionesses in front of them, the lionesses only paying attention to the approaching herd of animals. Shaka smiled. They didn't have any idea they were there. "You ready?" Katili asked his brother. He could feel the ground shake from the approaching stampede.

"Oh, I'm ready," said Shaka eagerly. "I'm gonna get me a nice, juicy lioness."

"What? You can't."

"Oh, I can. And I will."

"It's not in the plan!"

Shaka rounded angrily on his brother. "Was it part of the plan for Mother to end up with her neck in a lion's mouth?"

"No, but that doesn't mean we need to hurt _them_."

"I think it does." Shaka turned back to the approaching herd. "I won't touch a single one, just as told, but I'll make sure this hunt is so screwed up, they'll be lucky if one limps away." He began to rush the herd, just behind the lionesses.

oOo

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Tanabi furiously.

"The meaning of what?" asked Mataka innocently. "Kisasa on the floor or her cub gone?"

Tanabi roared.

"Easy. You can get the cub back. I'm just not sure about Kisasa's dignity."

"You monster!" Kisasa screamed as she launched herself at Mataka. Mataka threw her to the floor, placed himself on top of her, and put his paw to her neck in one swift motion.

"Your highness, I don't want to hurt her," Mataka said, "but she's making that awfully difficult for me."

"Get off her!" roared Tanabi. The cubs cowered. They had never seen the king this angry.

"As you wish." Mataka stepped off Kisasa, who immediately leapt up for his face again and was immediately pinned down again, this time by her throat. "Now that's no way to get your cub back."

"What do you want?" Kisasa snarled.

"I want the king to lift that exile he's made."

"You want me to let hyenas back into the Pridelands?" Tanabi asked incredulously.

"What you do with hyenas is your own business. I'm talking about a few poor leopards you kicked out."

"How do you know about that?"

"That's not your problem. What _is_ your problem is having a very angry lioness breathing down your neck for years if you don't save her cub. And it's a pity. The cub has such a nice, long life ahead of her, too."

"What are you going to do if I don't do as you say?"

"Well, having the little thing wait on me hand and foot strikes me as a nice idea."

"You'd make her your _slave?_" Kisasa said furiously.

"I prefer 'freedom-challenged.'"

"You beast!"

"Easy! Of course I wouldn't do that to her. From what I've seen she's got an independent streak that makes slavery impossible. No, I'd just make sure she'd never see her mommy again."

"You'd _kill_—"

"No, no, no!" Mataka exploded. "Who do you think I am, Afriti himself? I'd just take her to some faraway place. Maybe I'd let her see her Mommy every alternate leap year. I wouldn't _kill_ her. I'm not a heartless beast, no matter what you think. I'd raise the little urchin the best I could. She wouldn't go hungry, and I'd make sure she was as happy as possible. No, the point of this is to hurt _you_."

"I'd hunt you down and kill you," said Kisasa ferociously.

"You'd try. You'd die. Of course, we could skip all that nasty business and have you just do as I ask. The choice is yours."

oOo

"Cubsitting," Sudi muttered to himself. "Of all the jobs, I get stuck with _cubsitting_. Whoopee." The gorge the cheetah was sitting in provided barely any shade at all. Sudi was curled up in one of the few patches that he could find, pressed close to the wall. And the shade seemed to do nothing for the heat. To test his theory he stuck a paw out into the sunlight, pulling it back almost immediately after feeling it burn. He heard voices coming closer.

"When are we gonna meet him?"

"Soon."

"Will I like him?"

"I don't see why not. He's nice enough."

"Where is he?"

"I told you, he's somewhere around here."

"What's he like?"

"Sudi!" Makini yelled, obviously having reached the end of his tether. Sudi stuck a foreleg out of the shade and waved it. "There he is. Go bug him."

Kivuli ran to Sudi and jumped on him. "You're Sudi?"

"Yes." Sudi stood up, Kivuli sliding off him. "Come on, we need to get moving to the meet point."

"Not even a rest?" protested Makini.

"I feel fine."

"I meant for me."

Sudi flopped back to the ground. "Alright. Five minutes. What was happening when you left?"

"The den was about to explode."

oOo

"You can_not_ expect me to take those leopards out of exile," snarled Tanabi.

"Yes, I can," said Mataka patiently.

"They killed a lioness and her cubs for no reason!"

"And you're sure about that?"

"Yes! They had her blood on their mouths!"

"I've heard they were hunting."

"They were hunting the lioness!"

"That's a lie!" yelled Amana suddenly. Everyone turned to stare at her. Nasiha and Akida even stopped their quiet conversation. There was a ringing silence.

"You," said Kisasa quietly, then louder, "It's you! You told him to do this!" She leapt at Amana and began clubbing her with her paws. "I'll kill you!"

Amana landed a forceful blow on Kisasa, knocking her off. "I did _not_ ask him to take Kivuli. When he told me what he was doing I thought it was the stupidest thing ever." Nasiha smiled. "I just asked for his help. I had to. _You_ would never listen to me."

"You had no right to do this," said Tanabi angrily. "None whatsoever."

"What're you going to do? Exile me like you did Ibu and her cubs? At least this time you'd have a shred of justification!"

"You exiled cubs?" asked Mataka incredulously. "That's low."

"I didn't exile her cubs," said Tanabi. "Only her."

"You might as well have!" yelled Amana. "How would you like it if you hadn't had Monah to snuggle up to at night? And her mate was heartbroken! How could you expect him to just stay here when she was gone? But no, you didn't think of any of that!"

"So you would have let her stay even if she killed, say, Kumbu?"

"Ibu didn't kill anyone!"

There was silence. Mataka finally broke it with, "You have one day. If the ban isn't lifted by then, and other demands that may come up aren't met, then you never see Kivuli again. Of course, if I'm killed, or the cheetah, Amana, or the hyena is in any way hurt, then it's just as good as if you waited too long. Of course, if I'm killed, that leopard is stuck with the cub, and I really doubt his skills as a father."

"What's stopping me from beating where Kivuli is out of you?" snarled Kisasa.

"Nothing. Go right ahead. I've gone for an entire week under torture." Nasiha gave a small snort at that. "It'd just be your loss."

"You mentioned other conditions," said Tanabi.

"Just that you treat everyone involved as if this never happened. In other words, no punishing Amana, the hyena, the cheetah, or the leopard for their involvement. Same for me."

Tanabi sighed. "I still see no reason to let them back in. They'll kill one lioness after another."

Amana got up, walked over to Tanabi, and hit him across the face. Hard. "Ibu—is—innocent. But no, you didn't wait for that., did you? You didn't even listen to her pleas. You disgust me."

Monah walked over to Amana and hit her across _her_ face. "Don't you dare act like that to your king."

"King?" Amana scoffed. "Making you a queen, I suppose, seeing as you raised him. Why don't you go console Kisasa?" Kisasa snarled. "Maybe you'll understand why Mother went against you stealing Tanabi."

"Your mother came with me willingly," snarled Monah.

"My mother came with you to change your mind!"

"Enough!" exploded Tanabi. "Let me think!" He walked out to the edge of Pride Rock, Monah and Kisasa right behind him. Nasiha and Akida walked in from their spots outside the den and lied down. Amana stared in fury at Monah's back for a few minutes and stormed over to the group.

"I've been waiting to do that for _years_. Oh, I wish she'd just give me a chance to kill her. She'd regret it." Amana took in a deep breath. Mataka just smiled. "You think he'll do it?" Amana asked.

"I'm not worried about that," said Nasiha. "I'm more worried about Makini and that cub."

oOo

Kivuli was a little hell-raiser. Unfortunately, Sudi and Makini did not know this. But they learned. Quickly. As soon as they made the mistake of telling her that the trip was going nowhere and that they were actually cubnapping her she began to do her best to escape from them. It had ended with, after five straight minutes of hanging from Sudi's mouth by the scruff of her neck while trying to cut his "dirty, cub-stealin' throat," Makini making her promise not to run away. She kept to her word; she never ran farther than thirty feet from in any direction from the two of them, but several times she became convinced that they wanted to race and ran happily down the gorge while Makini and Sudi did their best to catch her as quickly as possible.

But she later tired of even that and decided to begin asking about everything you can; questions like "Why is the sky blue?", "Where are we going?", "Are we there yet?" (multiple times), "You wanna play tag?", "What about lunch?", "What is that ugly thing on your face?", and all the other questions a terminally bored cub can ask. The answers were, respectively, "I don't know.", "None of your business.", "Not yet." (in increasing irritation, volume, and profanity), "No.", "The sooner you stop thinking about it, the less hungry you'll be.", "How old are you?" "Six months." "If you want to live to be seven you'll shut up.", and all of the irritable answers a leopard and a cheetah can be expected to questions asked by a terminally bored cub.

Makini and Sudi swore off having any cubs _ever_.

One good can be said, though. The tedium only lasted a couple of hours.

In answer to "Why do cicadas make that weird noise?", instead of "Ask a cicada.", Kivuli received from Makini, "Hey, you hear that?"

"No, stupid, you can only hear them at night."

"Shut it, cub. Sudi, you hear that?"

"I don't hear anythi—" He stopped in mid-sentence, hearing a dull roar. He looked down at the ground to see pieces of rock dancing. Kivuli let out one long, happy note, her voice moving up and down, distorted by vibration. "There is no way my luck is this bad," said Sudi slowly. He and Makini looked at each other and then behind them. A small group of mixed animals rounded the bend. "Oh, well that's not so bad." An entire flood of animals began to stream around the bend. "Oh, _hell_ no!"

Sudi grabbed Kivuli and began to run down the gorge for his life, Makini surprisingly by his side, matching his top speed. He was fast for a leopard. The ground shook as the thunder of hooves ran behind them. They'd gotten a decent head start, but neither one of them were meant for endurance.

Just above the roar Sudi could make out Makini saying, "He had to pick migration, didn't he? It just had to be migration!" They came up on a fork in the gorge. "Steer left!" Makini yelled. "We need to go left!" Sudi followed Makini down the left side, already feeling fatigued. He couldn't keep this up forever.

"The river!" Makini yelled. "We just need to make it across the river!" Sudi could see the flowing blue just ahead. He put on an extra burst of speed and raced across it, now caught up to Makini. As soon as he was across he collapsed, taking in as much air as he could in each breath. Makini was doing the same while staring at the stampede.

Kivuli shook off what water she'd gotten on herself. "That was fun! Do it again!"

"Now what?" Sudi managed to get out. He turned to look at the herd, still running like their lives depended on it. Sudi was amazed at how much distance they'd put between themselves and the herd, and was even more amazed at how quickly the animals were eating up the gap.

"They'll stop at the river. They always do." Makini's chest was still heaving.

Sudi stared at the herd. "They're not stopping."

"Wait for it."

"They're not stopping."

"Just give it a chance."

"They're not stopping!" Sudi picked up Kivuli again and resumed running, Makini at his side. He heard the herd splash through the river behind them. He ran as fast as he could, praying for the gorge to end soon. Then he saw their salvation: a narrow ledge that could serve as a walkway up the side of the gorge.

"Ledge!" Makini yelled, having seen it, too. Sudi's breath came in quick spurts. Just a little farther . . .

In all fairness, it wasn't Sudi's fault. He wasn't meant to run like that, and besides carrying his own weight, he had a mouthful of Kivuli weighing him down, too. He staggered. The stagger turned into a trip. The trip turned into a fall. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, Kivuli rolling away from him.

Makini looked back, time seeming to slow down just for that. He'd heard Sudi's cry of "Unh!" and saw him on the ground. He looked at Sudi, then back at the ledge. Time sped back up. Makini ran to Kivuli and put her on the ledge with a quick, "Get up there!" He turned back to Sudi to see him standing up. It wasn't going to be fast enough. The small herd that had been in front of the big one was bearing down on Sudi much too fast. Makini ran around Sudi and rammed him as hard as he could towards the ledge, putting himself out of danger. Makini looked back toward the herd and braced himself.

Sudi looked back to Makini just as the herd hit him. Makini was knocked to the ground and rolled over several times, the herd thundering around and on him. They finally passed over him, Makini rolling to a painful stop.

Makini screamed.

And then, suddenly, he cut it off, gritting his teeth. All Sudi could do was stare at Makini, Makini's foreleg at a bizarre angle. Makini slowly tried to get up, almost immediately falling back down when his leg moved. He looked at the approaching herd, then at Sudi.

Sudi was unable to move, rooted by fear and stunned by the look in Makini's eyes. The eyes changed, the face became feminine, the daylight became dark night. But the expressions remained the same. Fear. The face looked back down, her paws were torn from underneath Sudi's, and "Loma!" was torn from Sudi's mouth. The scene changed back into day, Makini trying once again to get up, partially up and in unbearable pain. He collapsed with a prolonged groan. Sudi acted. He ran toward Makini and turned him over, ignoring Makini's screams. He grabbed Makini's leg and juggled him so he was roughly across his back. He ran like hell for the ledge.

He made it. Barely. One of Makini's back legs was actually touched by an antelope, the force almost throwing him off Sudi. Sudi ran up the ledge as fast as he could, picking up Kivuli along the way. When he reached the top of the gorge, he dropped Kivuli, then tried to lay down Makini as gently as possible, injured leg up. Makini was still screaming. Kivuli gave a little shriek at the sight of the dislocated leg. Despite his earlier resistance, Makini wouldn't stop screaming. Sudi did the kindest thing he could think of. He clipped Makini on the temple, sending him into unconsciousness.

oOo

"Don't worry," said Mataka. "The kid'll be fine."

"I hope so," said Nasiha.

The next hour was spent doing nothing but waiting. Monah had come in after just a few seconds of talking, lied down, curled up, and had done nothing but stare at the rogues. Kisasa spent the entire hour quietly arguing with Tanabi on the edge of Pride Rock. Finally both of them stopped talking and looked out into the savannah. Tanabi was almost immediately off Pride Rock. Kisasa stayed where she was. A few moments later Vitani came into the den, her head hung low. "Amana."

Amana went over to her. "What?" Her voice was shaking.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"Is—is it about Kumbu? Please tell me it's not Kumbu," she begged.

"It's Kumbu."

Amana took a step back, tears filling her eyes. "No . . ."

"I'm sorry . . . It looks like she's a better hunter than you."

"What?" Vitani brought her head up with a smile. "Vitani, that's NOT FUNNY!"

"Mom!" Kumbukizi appeared in the mouth of the den.

"Kumbu!" Amana ran to her, nuzzled her.

"It was her idea," said Vitani. "You know, to scare you."

"Don't you ever do anything like that again!" scolded Amana. "I was so worried!"

"I told you I'd be fine, didn't I?" said Kumbu with a large grin. "It was nothing."

"She was great," said Vitani. "If it weren't for her, things could have been a lot worse."

"Huh?" asked Amana.

"A couple of hyenas decided to go hunting, too. Would have completely wrecked the hunt. We almost lost plenty of lionesses. Kumbu managed to get three out of trouble herself."

"Hyenas?" asked Tanabi, walking into the den.

"Yeah, two of them. They got knocked out and dragged to safety. It seemed decent to leave a couple carcasses. They probably had no idea what they were interfering with. So what's with this party in the den?"

"If you haven't noticed, Kivuli's gone."

"Yeah, it did seem a little quiet."

"And they refuse to return her until I let the leopard I exiled for killing Laym and her cubs back in."

"What?!"

"Now run along," said Amana, "and let us talk."

"I am the _queen_, Amana," rebuked Vitani coldly.

"Not you. Kumbu."

"Why?" asked Kumbukizi innocently.

"Because," said Kisasa bitterly, everyone turning their head to see her walking into the den, "your mother has—"

"Shut up, Kisasa," snarled Amana.

"Why should I? They should know what you've done! They should see you for the traitor and monster you are!"

"I'm trying to help a friend!"

"Then what do you have to hide?" Kisasa turned to Kumbukizi. "Your mother—"

"Kisasa!"

"—has stolen my cub. And she's conspired to have it killed if we don't give in to this rogue's—" she spat out the word disgustedly—"demands!"

"Uh, point," interjected Mataka. "Taken away, not killed. And my plan, not hers. Let's give credit where credit's due."

"It all amounts to the same thing," said Kisasa furiously.

"Mom," said Kumbukizi, shocked, "is this true?"

"Yes," said Amana defiantly.

"Alright _Mom!_" All heads in the den turned to Kumbukizi, completely shocked. "That's how to do it!"

"Kumbu!" reprimanded Kiara.

"Oh, sorry. Shame on you, Mom. Shame in slow, steady doses. Shame." Kumbukizi shook her head, her smile completely ruining the entire act.

"Kizi!" Kumbukizi turned to see a lioness standing in the mouth of the den. "You gonna eat what you caught or just brag about it?"

"Coming." Kumbukizi turned back to the crowd. "You guys want anything?"

"Yeah, a buck over here," called Mataka. Nasiha and Akida stared at him. "Oh, right, and some for them, too."

"You must be joking," said Tanabi.

"What? I've barely had any breakfast."

"You walk into my den, steal a cub, threaten me, and then you expect me to feed you?"

"Common courtesy. Especially since you _really_ want that cub back." Tanabi groaned. "Just make that one buck, kid." Kumbukizi ran off. "Alright. Back to your whispered conversation."

"What makes you think I haven't decided?"

"You kings never keep anything in. You're all the same."

"Maybe I've decided to kill you."

"Go ahead. I don't care. I've got your cub."

Tanabi walked towards Mataka slowly. "You're right. You're a rogue. You don't care. You lose a partner here, a friend there, it's no loss. They're replaced. That's what you'd like us to think. But I think you do care." He stopped, inches from Mataka's face. "I think you don't enjoy what you do nearly as much as you pretend to."

Mataka smiled. "And I think you need to shut up." Nasiha quickly looked over Mataka, easily recognizing the strain in his voice, the clenched teeth, the left foreleg with its claws fully out and its toes splayed.

"Easy," he cautioned.

Tanabi raised his head, letting out a small "hmm" of satisfaction. He walked back out to the edge of Pride Rock. Mataka stared at him a second, then shook his head. "How does he know? How the hell does he know so goddamned much?"

oOo

Makini slowly came to, his eyes still firmly shut. He eased the pressure forcing his eyelids together, and applied some of it again feeling his leg throb. He let out a small moan. He opened his eyes, seeing a little set of black paws in front of his eyes. He let out another moan, having nothing to do with the horrific pain in his leg. "He's awake," Kivuli said.

A paw brushed Kivuli aside a moment later. Sudi stuck his head down by Makini's. Makini shifted his gaze up, moving his body slightly when he turned his head. He clenched his teeth in pain. "Makini?" Sudi asked.

"Sudi," he forced out.

"If your mother had seen you do that she'd be very upset."

"Nasiha said today you were my mother."

"Does it hurt when I do this?" Kivuli asked. Makini felt a jab in his injured shoulder.

"Of course it hurts you little shit!" Makini exploded. "Don't do that again!"

"Cub, sit over there and _try_ to be quiet," said Sudi. Kivuli obediently walked away. Even she realized this wasn't a time to play. "How do I fix it?" Sudi asked quietly. Makini muttered something. "What?"

"Nasiha."

"Yeah, but he isn't here. You're his protégé, tell me how."

Makini muttered again. Then louder, "What's Kassan like?"

"Huh?"

"I don't feel like talking, so listen. What's Kassan like?"

"Who, the black leopard?"

"Yes, the goddamn black leopard."

"I've only worked with him twice. He saved the entire job both times." Makini's eyes begged for more. "What's he like . . . well, it's really how _sure_ he is. He never second-guesses himself. And he's . . . detached. You could even call it cocky, or uppity. He's better than you, and he knows it."

There was a pause. "That's it?" asked Makini.

"Well, you've probably heard most of the rumors. Especially about how free he is."

"Free?"

"Guess you haven't. Free with the ladies. He isn't picky about species, either. Heck, I've even noticed him with a hyena on one job. What he could find in anything outside leopards is beyond me. I can't see anything in anything but cheetahs. He's probably got cubs all over Africa, half of 'em half-breeds. Heard he stayed with one for a while, but it was just a lie." Sudi's eyes slipped back into memory, then came back. "You've been distracting me, haven't you?"

"From what?"

"Yeah, real funny. Now tell me, how do you fix it?"

"I told you, I don't know."

"You call that muttering audible?"

"Why don't you lean down a little closer so I can get a good look at your neck?"

oOo

Nasiha stared at Mataka staring at Amana. He knew Mataka wasn't actually staring at her, he was just staring off into space. He'd barely touched the carcass Kumbukizi brought in. Kumbukizi had refused to leave, and promised to stay quiet if she did stay. Mataka had barely taken notice of it. Nasiha knew that when Mataka reflected like this he could get extremely touchy. He quietly asked, "Share your thoughts?"

Mataka looked up. "Huh? Oh, nothing really. Just reliving Cheko."

"_That_ massacre?" Mataka nodded. "Why?"

"Can't help it. That damned king . . . it's like he can see through me. I just can't stop thinking about all my failures."

"Cheko wasn't your problem. It wasn't anyone's. Hell, the entire situation was given to us wrong. We simply never had a chance."

"But we could have saved little Beda . . ." Mataka sighed sadly. "Poor guy. All eager to fight . . . and his mother was so proud of him . . . called himself a lil'skari, remember?"

"Yeah. But that's what we get for relying on the locals for everything."

Mataka stared at Nasiha. "That's pretty caustic, don't you think?"

"I'm over it. You used to be, too. I mean, we both feel sorry for the whole thing, but we have to get over it. What's your problem?"

"I don't know. Must've been that damned king . . . He isn't like the others."

"Of course he isn't," said Amana.

"What do you mean, 'of course he isn't'?"

"He has gifts. He doesn't see you when he looks at you; he sees your aura."

"Aura?"

"You mean that stuff is true?" asked Nasiha incredulously.

"Yeah," said Amana.

Tanabi walked over. "Amana." She looked up. "Why are you so sure?"

"Because Ibu couldn't. She just couldn't. She's never anything but nice."

Yeah, didn't you give her a chance to explain?" asked Mataka.

"Of course I did. Do you take me for a fool?" asked Tanabi.

"The precise degree of your idiocy is not under question. What _is_ being questioned is how you could make such a stupid mistake in the first place. Everyone I've talked to says they're innocent."

"That leopard had blood all over her mouth and claws, poor Laym and her cubs had been half-eaten—"

"Hey, we're talking about Ibu the leopard, right?" interrupted Kumbukizi.

"Yes. Now qui—"

"She didn't do it."

"Very funny. As I was saying, she had blood all over herself and her cubs—"

"I really mean it. I was there."

"What do you mean, you were there?"

"Mom used to let me play with Ibu's cubs sometimes. She could trust Ibu for anything. Anyway, Ibu got us lunch, and we were all eating when we heard this scream. We stayed put for a long time before Ibu told me to stay there while she took her cubs. Then I just never saw her."

"Kumbu," said Amana softly, "why didn't you say anything?"

"Isn't that obvious? I just didn't know. I tried to ask you where Ibu had been exiled and you refused to talk about it. Remember?"

"Oh . . . yes."

"There you go, king," said Mataka. "Proof. So are you going to lift the ban or not? Remember, only one day."

"I was so sure . . ."

"Yeah, that's great, now can we go get the cub or not? I'm tired of Blackie over there trying to kill me with her eyes."

"How do I know you won't just leave?" asked Tanabi suspiciously.

"What, do you think I don't have any moral . . . whaddayacallem . . ."

"Scruples?" supplied Nasiha.

"Yeah, thanks, scruples. I mean, there has to be some degree of trust here. You can call me a rogue, you can cal me a 'skari, you can call me a stubborn pain in your ass. But at least I'm honest." Nasiha stared at him. "Mostly."

"Alright then," said Tanabi. "Bring the cub. I'll lift the ban."

"Good." Mataka, Akida, and Nasiha stood up. "May take time to get the cub. Give us a day."

"No longer."

"Alright. And—just so you know—if anyone is exiled or re-exiled, or anything happens to anyone, I'll find out. And for each thing I see that I'm not happy with, someone dies. Understand?"

Tanabi seemed slightly taken aback. "Er . . . yes."

"Good." Mataka bowed. "Your servant, sire." He backed out of the den, his head still low. Nasiha and Akida didn't bother with the act. Once out of the den, Mataka straightened up. "And thank you so much, you dirty, black piece of filth."

"Come on," said Nasiha. "She wasn't so bad."

"For _you_, maybe. I hate that Monah. Gives me the creeps." Mataka turned to the hyena. "Nice job. And tell your brothers thanks for the distraction."

"I will." Akida began to walk his own way before he hesitated and turned back. "For a lion, you're halfway decent." Then he was gone.

Mataka kept walking with Nasiha to the rendezvous point. "Shouldn't you be getting back to Ushairi?"

"She'll understand. I want to check on Makini first."

"Alright . . . Some job, huh?"

"Too quiet for me. A little less conversation, a little more action."

"Yeah, but what about that job down in Daima?"

"Alright, that was too much action there. Just a little . . ."

oOo

Mataka and Nasiha had caught dinner. They were taking it to Sudi and Makini, still discussing jobs, Nasiha with the carcass on his back so he could speak freely. "What happened to Ey-Aye?" asked Mataka.

"Ey-Aye . . . Oh, Aisha. Doing pretty well. Talking about settling down, too, last I heard. Funny, though, she's about your age."

Mataka laughed. "Now _that_ was a lioness for you. _She_ knew how to be a pain in the ass."

Nasiha laughed. "Yeah, but she'd kill you faster than anything if you gave her a reason."

"Yeah . . . Aisha."

"Aisha."

"You're really leaving it, aren't you?"

"Yep. Do me a favor, though will you?"

"Name it."

"You mind taking Makini with you?"

Mataka smiled. "Funny. He already asked me that."

"What'd you say?"

"I'll tell him yes."

They heard a yell, followed by, "I told you not to do that, you little—unh!" Mataka ran to see behind the hill blocking the speaker from his view. His entire left foreleg went rigid.

"Oh, taka . . . Nasiha!"

Nasiha shed the carcass and ran, stopping dead when he reached Mataka and laughing.

"What's so damn funny?" asked Makini, his face contorted in pain. His shoulder was still protruding out of its socket.

"It's not funny," said Nasiha. "It's not funny at all. But doesn't it look familiar, Mataka?"

"Too damn familiar."

"He's had this same injury. Same leg even." Nasiha placed both of his forepaws on Makini's body around Makini's shoulder. "We tried so many things to get it back in we completely wrecked his leg." Makini winced.

"Can't feel a thing in it now."

"Comes in handy occasionally. But don't worry; your leg should be fine. How long ago did it happen?"

"Few hours," said Sudi.

"Okay. I'm going to fix it, but it's going to hurt." Makini tensed. "No, just relax. I'll do it on three. Just relax." Nasiha paused. "Can't feel anything broken. Can only hope. Now, right after we're through here, I'm going to take you to this wonderful little spot I found. Most beautiful place you've seen. Remember it, Sudi?"

"Uh, yeah," said Sudi, having no idea what Nasiha was talking about. "Gorgeous." He was doing his best to keep Kivuli back against her protests of "Let me see! I want to see!"

"Sudi, go ahead, let her watch. Just stay back, cub. As I was saying, wonderful place. Wonderful hot springs, great food, shade wherever you want it, sun whenever you feel like it." Makini gave a small sigh, imagining the place. "It's like . . . paradise. And the food. Even the fruit tasted good, and you know how I hate it. Just a beautiful place. Did I mention _three!_"

Makini screamed as Nasiha shifted his shoulder back into its socket, stopping a little after it went in. "The pain," he said disbelievingly. "It's gone." He made to stand up.

"Lie back down right now. You aren't moving until I'm satisfied. And that's a day, at least. I've only seen this happen three times, and only one of the cases actually was walking immediately after it." Nasiha turned to Mataka. "Get the carcass, will you? I'm going to check him out." Mataka went to get it. When he returned Nasiha was gently running a claw up and down Makini's leg. "You feel all of that?"

"Yes. _Now_ can I get up?"

"You're to lie like that all night. Don't move an inch. How would you like it if you did what Mataka did? His popped back out when he put weight on it." Makini winced. "I didn't think so."

The rest of the night Makini stayed put. They all stayed there, trying to make him happier, Kivuli especially. By and large, she succeeded. Once Mataka tried to take her back to Pride Rock, but she insisted that she would "thrash all of you" if Mataka tried to take her away before Makini stood up again. The matter was dropped after that. Kivuli was actually kind of fun to be around in her own wild way. So the night was spent talking, eating, joking, teaching Kivuli as many dirty words as she could hold, speculating on what words Kisasa would say when filth began to pour out of her daughter's mouth, and finally, sleep.

oOo

_Mataka tried to get up quietly_. _He didn't want to rouse the lioness_. _He didn't want to say goodbye_. _Not to her_. _He'd come to her and left her numerous times_. _He always left, and each time it got harder_. _He loved her and she loved him, there was no doubt about that_.

_He still remembered last night's conversation vividly_. _He'd hated it_. _But he felt he needed to tell her_. _About his failures_. _About how he'd left others to die, about how he'd left them screaming in pain, but how he had to save others_. _It hurt_. _"But," he'd reasoned, "let's say that for every Liaka, or Una, I save two, maybe even five others_. _That's worth it, right?" They still hadn't found an answer_._ He felt bad enough leaving her as it was_. _Her bulging stomach was more than enough reason to stay_. _She was due soon_. _But he'd be back for that_. _He swore that_.

_"You leaving again?" He turned to see her sitting up_.

_"Yes_._ I didn't mean to wake you_._"_

_"But you did_._"_

_He smiled_. _"Yes, I did_._" He paused_._ "Does your pride know about me?"_

_"Not a thing_. _They asked questions for about a day, and then gave up_._ I love you too much to give you away_. _I want this to be my little secret_._" She looked down at her stomach proudly_.

_Mataka suddenly sat down_. _"I'm staying_._ I don't want to leave you like this_._"_

_The lioness laughed_._ "Yes, you do_. _But don't worry_." _She gave him a lick on the face_.

_"I'll be waiting for you_. _And you'll come back_._" She smiled_. _"Go on, get, before someone sees you_._"_

_Mataka did as he was told after giving her a kiss_. _There would be a day when he would no longer leave_. _He was more than thankful that she would wait for him_.

_He went back to her two weeks later_. _She would have had the cub by then, and he cursed himself for missing it_. _If he had only left when he could have_ . . . _But when he did arrive, she was gone_. _He looked everywhere_. _He didn't find her_.

oOo

Makini waited at the base of Pride Rock while Mataka escorted Kivuli up to the den. Nasiha had no idea Makini was here, and if he did, he probably would have thrown a fit over his walking. His leg felt fine. A little sore, maybe, but it was fine.

Mataka approached the mouth of the den. "Now listen, kid," Mataka said to her. "I want you to go in as quietly as you can, and just cuddle up to your mom like you were never gone."

"Okay," said Kivuli in an equally conspiratorial whisper. "I'm gonna tell those mother-grabbing sons of—"

"Kid, don't curse. Not unless you really, really mean it. Just as a favor to me, 'kay?"

"Alright," said Kivuli reluctantly. Mataka watched her go into the den, then headed back down the ramp. He stopped dead when he heard a voice.

"Are you leaving again?"

Mataka turned to see Amana emerging from the shadow of the area under Pride Rock. "I don't think Kisasa would be very happy if I stayed. Besides, I just can't. You know that. I get restless." He walked over to Amana and kissed her on the cheek. "You can come with me."

"It still wouldn't be fair to the cub."

"She's not a cub anymore."

Amana smiled. "She still is to me." She stepped forward and nuzzled Mataka. "Thank you for Ibu."

Mataka looked at the ground guiltily. "Sorry I was so rough on you." He looked back up. "Did he follow through?"

"As soon as you left."

Mataka smiled as he nuzzled Amana. "They treat you alright?"

"Yes."

"They won't treat you the same now. They never can."

"It's worth it." She looked into his eyes. "When will you be back?"

"Whenever I can be. It gets harder to leave every time." He sighed. "Just don't move like that again. I looked all over for you."

"I know."

"I mean _everywhere_." Amana laughed. "I'll be back in a week. I promise."

"Sure."

"I _mean_ this. I'll be back in a week, or I'll be dead."

She nuzzled him again. "Well, that night two nights ago was wonderful." She looked up at him, smiling. "I love you."

"I know."

"I'll wait," she promised.

Mataka stared at Amana lovingly, then gave her a lick on the cheek. "You be good." She smiled. Mataka began to walk away. "You coming, kid?"

"Right behind you," said Makini, falling in step with Mataka, limping unconsciously. Amana watched them go with a hint of regret.

"Mom?" Amana turned to see Kumbukizi.

"What are you doing up?"

"Kivuli bounced on my head."

"Ouch." Amana turned to continue to watch the two receding figures.

"Mom?"

"Hmm?"

"Who was he? Really?"

Amana smiled. "Ask him when he comes back." She turned and began the climb into the den.

"He's coming back?"

"Oh, yes. Always."


End file.
